


Reluctant Hero

by kaitothegreat



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Chance Meetings, Drama & Romance, F/M, Light Angst, it all happened because I rewatched magic kaito special and AHHHH
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-29 00:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17797898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitothegreat/pseuds/kaitothegreat
Summary: After a year of being a private detective, Aoko knew her job wasn't going to be as entertaining or interesting like what she'd seen in the movies, that is, until she met Kaitou Kid.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Was lazy to transfer my stuff from fanfiction to AO3 but I finally got around to it... hahaha  
> But for those who have no idea what is going on, here's the thing. I always wanted to try writing duo POV for a scene, so here's the format where Aoko and Kaito's POV will be posted respectively within a chapter. It kinda gives more insights, I supposed, and more "behind the scenes" for each scenes too. "Scene-ception" yes (I've used this joke already but I want to use it again)
> 
> Hope you guys will like this!

 

**Aoko's first connection**

 

The first time Aoko met Kaitou Kid, sadly, didn't occur in a jail cell.

Instead, Aoko was standing in the middle of her small little office that was almost like her second home, hand raised to almost shake  _the man's_ hand until Shinichi's word registered inside her head.

"Um," Aoko blinked, her arm swung limply back to her side like her nerves just got severed. "Did you just say he's Kaitou Kid? Like.  _That_  Kaitou Kid?"

" _The_  Kaitou Kid. Please." The man drawled.

Aoko blinked, again, for the sixth time since the conversation began. She glanced at Shinichi, her mouth still gaping open before turning back to the man; The man who she  _smiled fondly_ at when he entered the office with Shinichi. The man who she  _almost shook hands_  with. The man who just claimed to be _The_ Kaitou Kid.

Her face cringed in disbelief.

Kaitou Kid scowled back in return.

He was in a disguise—based on what Shinichi said—as a random middle-aged man with brown eyes and hair combed to the side in a sleek manner. But despite the fake appearance, the scornful look in his eyes was tempting Aoko to give a slap across his face.

"So this is the solution you meant?" Aoko gestured over at Kid with curled up fingers, agonised.

"Yes." Shinichi said.

"But, he's a criminal-"

"Ouch, should I be feeling hurt?" Kid rolled his eyes. "See? This time,  _I'm_  being cooperative. But she is the one who doesn't want to work with me."

"Your attitude is at fault as well." Shinichi remarked drily before turning to Aoko. "I don't want to push you in making a decision, but sometimes, one doesn't have a choice to choose the best solution. You just got to go with the  _only_  solution."

Aoko pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course she knew that. Shinichi—her mentor for over a year—knew that she knew it too. It was her own stubbornness that refused to face the truth, and she was sure Shinichi's comment wasn't only directed to Kid; Her attitude towards this situation needed some work too. But… Kaitou Kid… That infamous thief who had stolen over millions and millions of dollars worth of precious gems and priceless paintings and all kinds of beautiful, untouchable things in the world... without getting caught once? How ridiculous and despicable.

And maybe if he hadn't stolen her two favourite Vincent van Gogh's paintings that she was so excited to see in the museum four months ago, she wouldn't be so mad right now.

On the bright side, working with a thief might be a little bit better than some other criminal who did badder things like kidnapping or murder, though that still didn't make him any closer to being a normal, good citizen. But fine. Beggars can't be choosers, just like what Shinichi meant.

Aoko took in a deep breath. "I guess this is really the only solution." She walked over to the desk with a growing headache.

Shinichi smiled, before pushing Kid's shoulder so they would move to her table.

Aoko turned on her laptop, the power fan making a rattling noise as she did, filling the silence. Kid began picking dirt under his nails while Shinichi scrolled through his phone.

Seemed just like any other normal day, huh?

"After this," Aoko cleared his throat. "Are you going to send him to jail?

Shinichi sighed. "No."

"Why?"

"I can't have him jailed. He's still in the middle of repaying a couple of favours." Shinichi passed a smile at Kid. "He still owes me three."

"Excuse me? You're left with two." Kid sneered back. "Remember that time you asked me to pick up your daughter from her Karate practice and sent her home before your wife came back? Just because you are too busy solving some murder case in the middle of a forest?"

"Oh. Yes I did."

"Yes you did."

"But not just for the favours," Shinichi continued, turning his head to Aoko before she could break off the conversation and rebuke about how ridiculous this reason was. "It's because it's good to have connections."

"Connections?" Aoko frowned.

"Yes. This connection found us the solution."

Aoko glanced at Kid, who was eyeing at her, seeming to be waiting for her to say something. But she didn't know what to say, though she forced herself to come up with something, just because.

"I don't need this sort of connection." She huffed.

Kid laughed. "You really think you're that great, huh?"

"At least-"

Being the main reason why Kid was  _still_  standing in Aoko's office and how Aoko was allowing a criminal to stand in  _her_  office, Shinichi cleared his throat, cutting both of them out effectively. "Alright, the computer's up." He pointed at the laptop. "Let's do what we are here for today."

And so they did, reluctantly.

Aoko had been stuck in a fraud case for the longest time, being unable to find any evidence to prove that the CEO of a damn insurance company had cheated her client's savings, as well as 87 other innocent people who lost all their hard-earned money. She used all kinds of investigative means, tactics and measures, but none of them worked. There was a point when she thought she had to give up, that is, until she heard the CEO is planning a huge yacht party to celebrate the increased  _profits_  earned over the business year.

It was the best time to infiltrate, but she needed a way to get on that yacht.

And Kaitou Kid, the master of disguise, was the solution.

She went with the appearance of herself, since she didn't know the secret to change her voice and didn't like to wear coloured eye contacts. But of course, she wasn't exactly herself either. She was disguised as the CEO's escort.

Not in terms of bodyguard. But…

"God, can you show more of your cleavage?" Kid, in the disguise of the CEO, shook his head. "People are going to think I hired you from a local church."

Aoko growled and pulled the collar of her dress. "Keep your role in check before caring for mine."

"Hello? You're talking to an expert here. And shush. Someone's coming."

Aoko did intend to shut up, but when Kid grabbed her waist and pulled her to his side, she felt like screeching in his ear. Or, better, bitting it off. But teeth gnawing into her lower lip, she managed a smile when she recognised the head of finance approaching them, and she got her recording button ready.

Overall, it had been an unpleasant night.

Being mutually agreeable, for once, they ended things well and fast. In an hour time, Aoko collected enough evidences to send everyone on the yacht to jail, including the CEO who was probably still sleeping and tied to his bed that night. They headed back afterwards, with Shinichi waiting for them in Aoko's office, but Kid went off as soon as they reached, claiming he had finished what he was supposed to do. Aoko was more than glad to see him go, anyway.

"So," Shinichi looked between them before Kid left for the door. "Will you two work together again?"

"Never." Kid said.

Being mutually agreeable, for a miraculous second time, Aoko shook her head. "Never."

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's first distraction**

 

If Kaito had a chance to go back five years ago and tell one thing to his past self, it would be to never,  _ever_ get himself into anyone's debt.

But time travelling was never part of his options, so here he was, in this stupid, lavender-scented office and doing the unbelievable thing; helping another who treated justice like it was part of their damn soul. He tried not to care more than focusing on how this would mean clearing one favour from Shinichi's damn list, and that thought did help to distract himself from the fact that Nakamori Aoko had really fine eyelashes too.

After the stupid discussion and the stupid plan in action, everything ended well like how he thought it would (Nakamori Aoko might have some flair in acting, really). This would be the end of Shinichi's third favour, and there would be two more to go. Fantastic.

"So," Shinichi said at the moment when Kaito was about to walk out of the Nakamori's Aoko office door. "Will you two work together again?"

Kaito glanced at Aoko. He didn't have to think to know her answer, so he said it first, just because that would make him less like a loser. Sort of. "Never." He said

Nakamori Aoko shook her head firmly. "Never."

And he left, wondering why he waited there dumbly for three seconds to hear her reply.


	2. Chapter 2

  

**Aoko's disbelief**

 

"Good morning."

Aoko spun around, her face fell lax from before she beamed when she realized the greeting was meant for her. "Good morning." She chirped back to the old security guard that was standing behind her with a warm smile. Something about old people always relaxed Aoko; the way they spoke in such a slow and calming manner, maybe.

The old man poked his black, security guard hat up, revealing the wrinkles by his bright eyes. "Are you waiting for someone?"

She shook her head. "I'm here by myself."

"Oh?" The guard blinked in surprise. "I thought you came here to pass time while waiting for your date. So you're here to look at paintings?"

Aoko glanced down at her clothes. She wondered how her lame-looking shirt and jeans could give an impression that she was going for a date. But anyway, besides  _that_  point- "Yeah. I'm here to look at the paintings."

"Well, that's even more unusual." The guard smiled before gesturing the empty, large museum hall they were in and a convenient clock hanging on the wall that showed ten minutes pass nine. "Isn't this too early for you to look at paintings?"

"Because I learnt my lesson." Aoko blurted before she could stop herself. She cringed at her stupid mistake for speaking out that comment, while hoping she didn't sound as if she was bitter, even if she inwardly was.

The guard tilted his head. "Lesson?"

Aoko glanced around the hall, just to check if they were still alone before looking back at him. Something in her gut told her to keep her mouth shut and move along, but her chest felt uncomfortably bloated, probably from the sudden reminder of her frustrations, what's more that she met  _him_ recently too _-_

Then again, she really, always had been, very relaxed and chatty around old people. The guard probably wouldn't mind a break too, right? He came up to her afterall.

"Kaitou Kid." Aoko paused. "Do you know that thief?"

"Kaitou Kid?" Although there was no trace of emotion in the guard's tone, there was something strange about the lines between eyebrows, as if he was putting on some effort to keep up his nonchalance. "Yeah I do. But what about him?"

"Well… Half a year ago, there was this Vincent van Gogh exhibition that I really wanted to visit, but at that point of time I was busy with my work so I thought I'll go on the last day. But, well, Kaitou Kid stolen them right on the second day."

"Oh, right. I remember that Van Gogh heist." He nodded absently. "So you're here so early because you want to see the paintings before he ever gets to steal them?"

Aoko nodded aggressively.  _Finally_  it seemed like someone actually understood her point for her early visits. Keiko never did, much less her other friends and even her father.

"But how would you know if he's stealing anything from here?" He asked.

"It's the same as how I didn't know he'll steal the two Vincent van Gogh's painting too." Aoko explained. "So from now onwards, I'm taking precautions for all kinds of exhibition I want to go."

"Isn't that tiring?"

"That is the lesson I learnt."

The guard nodded his head slowly and looked at the painting that Aoko had been admiring a while ago before he came and talked to her, but for some reason, his eyes were a little out of focus. "Maybe Kaitou Kid should send an advanced heist note then?"

"I don't think it's a good idea." Aoko straightened. "There will be a surge in visitors, and I'm sure they are more interested in his thieving schemes then coming for the actual purpose of the exhibition; it's going to be a chaos." She huffed, inwardly rolling her eyes at the thought of those hysterical fans. "Rather, if he really wants to steal something so much, he should be courteous enough to wait for the exhibition to be over."

"You're right. Your suggestion is a good idea." The guard chuckled loudly in a manner that Aoko didn't understand, until he spoke again as he pointed at the painting. "So, to repent for the many inconsiderations, how about I steal this painting for you?"

Something instantly clicked in Aoko's head and she took a step back. "A-Are you…"

"Hi." He said, his tone no longer pitched in the comforting, old man's tone. It was honeyed, confident and snarky, all shining out in his voice despite only saying a word.

Aoko widened her eyes. "Y-You!"

He gestured at the painting again. "So is this enough to ask for your forgiveness?"

"What- I'm- How-" Aoko then shut her mouth, because if she continued, it would all just be nonsensical blabbers. She took a good second to calm herself down, smile bitterly, and take out her phone from her pocket instead.

"Oh," Kid wagged his finger. "No phones are allowed here."

"I'm calling the police." Aoko said and tapped exactly the numbers to it. But before she could press dial, Kid snatched her phone out of her grip and cancelled the call.

"What for?" He drawled. "To ask them come and look at paintings? You're—"

"Give me back my phone!"

"—wasting the taxpayers' money, you know?"

"I'm calling so they can catch  _you;_  thief-plotting, identity-stealing  _criminal_  that is up to no good."

Switching off her phone, Kid handed it back to her. "You're petty."

"Petty?!" Aoko grabbed her phone and clutched it tightly to her chest.

"Can't believe you'll hold a grudge for this long. And all because of two paintings?"

"I'm not holding a grudge. I'm for justice."

His jaws cracked open a yawn as he bade a lazy goodbye. "K. I'm off to work. Nice talking to you."

Aoko stalked after him to stop his tracks. "What work? Are you plotting something?"

"I don't go around stealing everything in plain sight every time." He side-eyed her. "Even criminals need some break from the bad stuff."

"Then what are you doing? Being in a disguise and all."

Kid lightly rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's none of your business.  _And—_ " he cut in, before she managed a chance to rebuke. "—I'm not going to steal anything. If I am, I will tell you; to give you a good head start to try and stop me. But, no. I'm not stealing, not today."

Aoko scoffed. "Are you expecting me to trust you on your words?"

"Why not?" He stared at her, not in defence but seemingly out of curiosity. "I never lie."

"First thing first, your identity  _is_  a lie _—_ "

"Hmm, I guess you got a point."

" _—_ Second, the fact that you talked to me means you are up to something."

He blinked, caught off guard, but smiled again. "Up to what?"

Aoko scowled when her mind came up with a blank. "I-I don't know? Ask yourself."

"To be frank, I don't know why I came and talked to you." Kid shrugged. "I guess I was bored."

Not knowing what to reply (because it wasn't something she expected), Aoko glared at him; It was probably the only appropriate reaction she had to give.

Kid sighed. "I'm seriously not stealing anything. Trust me."

"I can't."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. You don't have to. But there's nothing else you can do either."

He was right about that. Because right at the moment he said it, the lights in the hall flickered a couple of times, surprising Aoko as she whirled around to check her surrounding. And by the time the flickering stopped and a few museum staffs came to the hall to check what was going on too, Kid was already gone.

At least, though, all the paintings were still there.

.o.

For the next three days, Aoko had been keeping tabs on the recent criminal news, refreshing the internet once in a couple of hours to see if there was any updates about anything being stolen from the museum they met. There had been nothing so far, but Aoko was expecting some news to come sooner or later.

And it did, sort of, but the  _news_ came by a phone call.

_"Did you see the news?"_  Keiko said before Aoko could greet her on the phone.

"What?" Aoko asked blankly as she dropped the file she was looking through for her current case. Judging from Keiko's energetic tone on the other line, she assumed it wasn't something bad…?

_"There's going to be a Vincent van Gogh's exhibition soon!"_  Keiko chirped on the other end.

Aoko straightened, her jaw ached when she split her cheeks into a smile too fast. "W-What? Are you serious? There's a new exhibition?"

_"Yes- No, not exactly new. You'll understand once you look it up."_

Immediately after Aoko hung up, she opened a new tab and typed in the search.

Her eyeballs nearly rolled out when she saw what appeared on her screen.

_Top News (15 minutes ago): Thief returned the two stolen_ **_Vincent van Gogh_ ** _'s paintings six months later! Museum owner planning to hold an exhibition after its two-weeks appraisal period. Read more…_

Aoko clicked in to read, but truth to be told, her mind was too much in a whirl to process the words. So after skimming through the third related article, she gave up and closed her laptop, and for the next twenty minutes of deafening silence, she spent her time trying to guess why Kid did what he did.

But even from that moment till the day she went to the actual exhibition two weeks later, she never came up with any conclusion for that matter.

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's abnormality**

 

The difference between doing things out of good will and being obliged to do something was that the former was much more motivating to complete. If Kaito's lonely, 65 years old neighbour wished to spend his birthday with his grandson but couldn't because he had a security guard shift at a museum, Kaito was more than willing to volunteer his help. But if Shinichi asked him to disguise as a security guard for five minutes as a favour, Kaito needed at least a three days notice or there would be no room for discussion.

This context applied to many other things too.

_"You want to_ what _?"_

Kaito squinted into the webcam. "I know you heard me. Your wifi is better than mine."

His mother frowned back at the screen and sipped onto her glass of wine on her patio. Kaito wasn't sure which house was that, but it got to be one of the three she had in Las Vegas.  _"I just want to confirm it again because it sounded ridiculous."_ She replied.

"It may sound ridiculous, but coming from you and all your other requests, what I'm asking is the bare minimum." He managed to say as a retort. "Don't worry, I'll return them back to you in a month's time."

_Them_ , a.k.a the two Van Gogh's paintings he stolen six months ago.

Long story short, his mother asked Kaito to steal two of the owner's favourite paintings because of some old feud, and that the owner once had the balls to trick his mother before. Kaito got to take his hat off for that—to know that someone out there was still living and breathing after possibly tricking his mother out of anything—but that was exactly what went wrong in the first place. What the owner shouldn't have done was to land himself on the bad side of a woman who handled justice in her own ways, moreover when her son was a fantastic thief, too.

_"I'm not worried about the two paintings; I couldn't care less about them. What I'm interested in is the reason for your request."_ His mother said, still eyeing him like she wasn't sure if he was the culprit who ran over her non-existent dog.

Kaito shrugged. "Nothing much."

Really, it wasn't anything much. Just for fun? For the tease? For the sake of nothing?

Bored?

His mother narrowed her eyes again. He was originally prepared for at least two hours of interrogation, but surprisingly, her face relaxed and she took another sip out of her wine.  _"Fine, seeing how you rarely ask for anything from me anyway."_

"Okay. Thanks." Kaito managed to say without a heave of a sigh.

_"I'll send the paintings over in a day or two."_ She informed, before proceeding to talk about how wonderful the weather was recently and that she wished she had a couple of grandchildren over to play. It wasn't hard for Kaito to fake believable excuses so that he could get out of the naggy reminders to get a girlfriend, but when he remembered the two paintings were still with his mother, and that he didn't want to risk her changing her mind, he stayed on to hear four hours long of her mother's stories/conversation.

The paintings arrived in three days as promised, and a couple of hours after clearing the evidence and fingerprints, Kaito sent them back to the owner. Like what he expected and hoped, the owner immediately celebrated his paintings' return by hosting an exhibition for it, just because he was rich and had all the time in the world to spare to do such things.

Two weeks later (while suffering from the intense curiosity to know what Aoko's reaction towards this entire news was), Kaito disguised as one of the guards who was on medical leave and loitered around the floor of the two Van Gogh's paintings. If what Aoko said was true, then it shouldn't be long before she—

Ah, there she was.

Ten minutes after the exhibition hall opened, Aoko was here, in her cute jumpers and clutching onto her phone elatedly as she wandered through the hall with tiny skips and excitement that belonged to a high school student in love rather than an adult of her age. Trailing behind her was a lady with spectacles, who was stifling her yawn every five seconds and trying to keep up with Aoko's enthusiasm. No wonders to that; this was way too early for anyone to be looking at paintings.

Anyone except Nakamori Aoko, apparently.

She was rather amusing to look at the entire time (which made a good worth to all the trouble Kaito went through); Her light giggles that echoed in the hall, her random  _oohhs_ and  _ahhhs_ when she spotted something interesting after staring at the painting for a couple of minutes… And sometimes when she walked to a certain spot and the ceiling lights made her eyes shine in some kind of spark that couldn't be found in the whole milky way, Kaito had to look away for a moment—

Just before he got pulled in too deep.


	3. Chapter 3

  

**Aoko's surprise of a lifetime**

 

There was a time, long long ago, when someone who Aoko couldn't remember told her this: once is chance, twice is coincidence and three times is a pattern. Back then when she first heard it, she wasn't sure what to do with that information besides storing it somewhere in her brain and waiting for the right moment to use it, like what those cool detectives in the movies would as they blurt out random information in the middle of their cases and eventually solving them.

The last thing she expected, though, was to use this saying upon herself.

Yes, sure. The first time she met Kid, rather than the other seven billion people in the world, Aoko might call it  _chance;_  A chance of a meeting, a chance encounter, even if back then it was Shinichi who pulled the strings, and that she  _did_  need the help that could only specifically come from Kid. There might be a loophole somewhere in this argument, but that was fine. Chance sounded more neutral than fate.

The second time, yeah, sure. Coincidence. Even Kid hinted on that. He came up to her because he was... bored. Not because he was stalking her, or that he purposely disguised himself as a kind, old security guard and baited her to talk to him. He had his own business there, and she was there for her own business too. Pure coincidence. Yes. Coincidence still sounded more neutral than fate.

But this third meeting. Pattern? Of what sort? Aoko wasn't sure. But at least she was sure about one thing, and that is that pattern still sounded much neutral than fate.

Besides that, Aoko wasn't sure about anything else, like everything else that happened whenever Kid was involved.

It was close to midnight as Aoko was driving her way back home, the usual timing after she collected plenty of scandalous evidence of her usual cheating husband case. The night was quiet, saved for when she passed by a few drunkards shouting by the streets. She was super looking forward to getting home, have a nice bath, slump onto her bed and snuggle against her comfortable pillow till she sleeps to her death, but by the rules, she wasn't going to go over the speed limit or beat any traffic light, even when the road was dead empty, as if she owned it.

That was why when a figure suddenly materialized in front of her car and a loud  _bang_  followed, Aoko was sure,  _damn sure_ , it wasn't her fault.

Aoko shrieked, closely matching the loud screeching sound her tyres made when she hit the brake. Her head slammed back onto the headrest and she growled in pain. After making sure she hadn't suffered any broken bones or whatsnot, she suddenly remembered the figure that caused everything that happened, and hastily began unbuckling her seatbelt to get out of the car.

Though it might not be her fault, she should at least make sure the person is still alive and well.

Her head popped out. "Are you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the man was already on his feet, briefly brushing off his dark jeans and black jacket. His hat was flung far away from him, but the sound of her voice seemed to stop his intention to pick it up as he spun towards her, eyes wide like he was about to shoot out laser beams.

He gasped. "It's you?"

Aoko blinked.  _Why is his voice...?_

Then a blast of horns could be heard coming from the junction she previously passed, breaking the night silence that Aoko forgotten happened a while ago.

"Shit." The man gritted his teeth and limped to the passenger seat of her car. "Get in!"

Aoko blinked again. "Wait, what-?"

"Get in!" He gestured frantically to her car door.

The horns grew louder, followed by loud engine roaring and gas exhausting-

Four cars swerved from the junction behind Aoko and were heading towards them at fast speed.

Very fast, indeed.

"Oh my god!" In an instant, Aoko shoved herself in the car and slammed the door shut. She frantically tugged onto her seatbelt, trying to pull it over her chest, but halfway through, it got stuck, somehow.

"What the hell are you doing?" The man snapped.

"Buckling my seatbelt." Aoko snarled back. "You should too."

The man looked at her in disbelief. "For hell's sake just drive already!"

Looking back at the rear-mirror and seeing how the lights coming from the four cars were closing in, Aoko didn't really have the choice. She released her seatbelt, jabbed her feet into accelerator, and sped off, nearly giving herself and the man a whiplash. The street was empty, giving her good space to go fast in a straight line, but bad thing was, it was the same for their pursuers.

Wait.  _Their_  pursuers?

What mess did she ended herself in now?

Aoko's grip tightened around her wheel as she glanced at the man. _What_  had she done?  _Who_ had she picked up? Could he be a criminal on the run? Were the people behind them the police? The law?

Oh crap.

Oh  _crap._

Aoko took in a deep breath. "Who are you?" She said, hoping her voice sounded steady and confident (It was a dumb question, but really, what else could she ask?).

"Huh." He drawled, sounding utterly unimpressed as he looked her way with a bored gaze. "You haven't figured out?"

Back when the night air was crisp and dry and he was standing at a distance, Aoko couldn't register it that well. But now that they were in an enclosed space, with him sitting right next to her in less than an arm's length and speaking in that snarky tone, realization hit Aoko as hard as life could get.

"Kaitou Kid?!" Aoko's shouted, her reflex nearly made her change her foot from the accelerator to the brake. Nearly, but thankfully, she didn't.

"Uh huh. Surprise." He deadpanned before turning to stare at the wing-mirror. His brows turned into a crease.

"Surprise my ass!" Aoko continued yelling. "What the hell! What is going on!"

"Geez." Kid rubbed his ear. "Well, first, you knocked me down and—"

" _No._ " Aoko growled. " _You_  dashed in front of my car recklessly and caused this accident."

"K. Whatever it is, it's still a fact that I have to hitch a ride because my bike broke down and so are my legs. Let's just pray your car wouldn't too."

Speaking of his legs, Aoko straightened, remembering seeing him limping towards her car. There was so much one needed to do to make her turn heartless towards someone, and for now, Kid hadn't made her reach that level, yet.

"Um, are you alright then?" She said, hoping that her voice was neutral despite the weird, uncomfortable feeling in her chest.

"I'm fine." He muttered. He was still staring at the wing-mirror, all while refusing to look at her. "Anyway, can you drive faster?

Aoko inwardly sighed. Any more faster would be over the speed limit, then again, she was sure the people driving behind her wouldn't care about that. Taking in a deep breath, she pressed the accelerator further down, and for a temporary moment, the distance between them and the pursuers grew a bit bigger.

Kid sunk into his seat and finally looked away from the mirror. Strangely, seeing him relax made Aoko release a tension she didn't know she had.

"Who are they?" She managed to ask without either screaming or shouting (Those seemed to be the only options whenever she spoke with Kid).

He paused. "…People who aren't friendly."

Aoko sent Kid a glare. "Don't you think you owe me a  _better_  explanation?  _Technically_ , I'm involved now because of you."

"To give you some comfort, they are much of a scumbag compared to me. So  _technically_ , you are doing a  _better_  deed for helping me."

" _Thanks_  for the comfort."

He smirked. "You're welcome. So continue driving and that's all you need to do."

"Drive to  _where?_ "

"Wherever. Maybe your home, if you want." Kid began rummaging through the inside of his jacket. "By then, I should be able to get rid of them."

"And how?" Aoko narrowed her eyes. "Please enlighten me."

"You don't have to mind me." Kid said, and ever so casually, he pulled out a silver gun from inside his jacket. "Just focus on the road."

Aoko choked. "You have a  _gun_? You can't be serious. Guns are  _illegal_."

"Don't you find yourself funny to be saying that to me?"

" _Still_ , we don't need the gun." Aoko said, while inwardly wincing when Kid began rolling down the window. "Let's just shake them off."

Kid scoffed. "Sounds really easy when you said it."

"But-"

Right on the cue, a few shots fired behind them. All missed, except one, as it hit the wing-mirror on Aoko's side and blasted into pieces.

Kid glanced at Aoko, checking for her response.

Her response was a loud shriek. "Okay! Fine! We  _need_ the gun!"

"Always been waiting for your validation." He grinned, and pulled out a small metal box from his jacket, which Aoko presumed was his ammo.

She began casting shifty glances to his side, anxious about Kid's nimble fingers and the oddly, large silver gun that Aoko had never seen before. She was about to look away, to focus on the road like what he suggested, until when she saw him reloading his magazine with the metal box, which she realized was a  _deck of cards._

Her eyes were on the verge of rolling out.

"…Is that a _card_  gun?" Aoko whispered.

"Yes." Kid cocked the said gun.

"Are you serious?"

"Oh, so  _now_ you wish this is an actual gun?"

"I wish I'd left you on the road!"

Kid, having the audacity, grinned. "You wouldn't."

He was annoyingly right, though, because based on her principle, she wouldn't allow herself to do it either. But even if they were currently driving to hell, there was still no way Aoko would admit that she would still save him, ever. "Don't act like you know me. Just make them go away already!"

Kid propped up from his seat. "My pleasure."

In a flash, he climbed half his body out and fired a couple times, but she couldn't tell how many they were since the slices of card-shots were softer than her heartbeat thumping against her ear. Simultaneously, though, right after Kid slumped back onto his seat, Aoko witnessed two cars spinning in circles on the road like a dizzy beetle from her rear mirror—Their car tyres were punctured by Kid's cards, but he wasn't able to stop the other two cars.

Knowing full well that Aoko was about to ask him to continue, Kid explained: "I'm out."

"Great." Aoko gritted her teeth. "Then what now-?"

More shots were fired from behind again. And among the loud bangs, something hit the car on Kid's side, causing a loud, scratchy sound that made Aoko's blood froze. Kid heard it too.

After the enemies' shots ended, he gave a quick peek out of the window, stared at the car door for a second, before silently sitting back on his seat with a poker-face that Aoko seemed to understand for the first time.

She groaned.

"Don't worry." Kid said. "I have plan E."

His tone and words had no reassurance value to Aoko. "Plan  _E_?"

"E for excellent." Kid began rummaging through his inner jacket again before pulling out a round ball.  _Or_  something that seemed like a ball.

"What the hell is that." Aoko frowned when she cast a quick glance at the thing in his hand. "Don't tell me it's another of your stupid toy that's going to burst out bubbles or something."

He ignored her. "Move further away from the pavement."

"Why-"

"Just do it."

Much to her reluctance, she followed his instruction and did as told. She was about to ask what he was up to when he leaned out of the car again and threw the ball at the fire hydrant that her car just zoomed passed. He rolled up one side of his jacket's sleeve, revealing a watch underneath.

Once the two cars passed by their old spots, Kid pinched the side of his watch, and within that split second the fire hydrant exploded.

Aoko stared in horror as her eyes were glued to the rear-mirror. Everything happened like magic; the large explosive fire was engulfed in a blink, fully extinguished. By the next blink, everything on the road was consumed by thick fumes of white smoke and water.

Lots and lots of water.

Like an inverted waterfall from the ground.

It took Aoko a while to process everything, and she wasn't even sure where to start. Perhaps from the origin. Yeah. The origin of the damn explosion.

"That b-ball is a bomb?!"

Kid didn't look as guilty as what Aoko thought he should be. Instead, he seemed extremely pleased with his work as he unrolled his sleeve. "Go big or go home."

"Go to  _jail,_  you mean?" Aoko yelled. "Oh my god, if the surveillance cameras caught all these… my life is ruined. I'm not wearing seatbelt. I'm speeding.  _And_  I'm an accomplice of a  _bomber. Charged for property damage."_

"I'll clear the cameras, don't worry." He sounded as if those efforts were worth the same as cutting his nails.

She passed a glare at him. "Should I be grateful?"

As the smoke and fog and whatever the mess behind were slowly clearing, Aoko dared herself to look at the rear-mirror again, teeth biting into her lower lip.

Kid's face was wiped blank, but she knew he was thinking the same as he stared hard at the wing-mirror on his side.

_Please. Just stop following us already…_

Despite her agonising chants, her wish was only half-granted. One car out of the two made it out of the smoke, continuing the chase of their tail. And perhaps because of the water explosion, the pursuer seemed even more determined to catch up now. Aoko stepped harder into the accelerator too, hoping they could maintain the distance.

Kid clicked his tongue. "Of all damned ones, Gozu got to be in that car."

_Gozu?_  Aoko frowned. The name seemed to ring a bell...

But before she could question Kid, he straightened and abruptly grabbed her steering wheel. Aoko yelped as she lost control, swerving the car to a sharp right. It bounced up from a curb and smashed a couple of yellow barricades away. She screamed once again when she realized Kid hadn't turned mad and the car wasn't out of control; Kid's hand was steady on the wheel, and he knew where he was going.

And where the  _car_  was  _heading_.

It was the dock of the bay.

Outwards to the beautiful sea.

"No-" Aoko couldn't breathe. "No!"

"Yes." Kid pushed her thigh with her other hand, forcing her foot to remain jammed into the accelerator. "Just trust me!"

"My car-!"

"Our lives!"

With that, Aoko screamed for the third time when the car flew up from the dock. In midair, with fast hands, Kid pushed open the car door, grabbed Aoko to his side and pulled her out before the car sunk to the bottom of the sea.

.o.

"I think they are dead, boss."

"With his skills? Are you an imbecile?" A loud slap echoed in the night. "He's got to be somewhere. Find him and get him. Alive. I'm not finished dealing with him."

"Yes boss."

Footsteps. Fast and nimble.

Silence.

A gruff.

Another sound of footsteps. But heavier. And slower.

And then there was silence. Except for the waves as it continued splashing onto the dock, and onto their bodies too.

A minute later, Kid emerged from their hideout—the small space under the dock that fitted them—and bobbed his head out from the water to check what was on the dock. Noticing his grin under the dark sky, Aoko didn't have to wait for his signal before she swam out too and quickly climbed out of the bloody freezing water. Up on land, they dashed past the dock and towards the direction where most yacht were parked. Under the tall shadows of the boats, it was temporarily a good place to take cover.

"You okay?" Kid asked, his eyes watching her from under his damp hair.

"I want to kill you." Aoko panted. Her clothes were wet and heavy, weighing her down tremendously as she tried to catch her breaths (And the night breeze was not helping either). Besides wanting to kill Kid, she wanted to get out of this place too, before that  _boss_  came back.

But Kid didn't seem all to worry about that  _boss_  at all, or the fact that Aoko wanted to kill him as well. He nodded at her response with a grin and patted the corner of his jaw. "Seeing you like this, I'll take that you are okay." He said.

Aoko would love to correct him and tell him that  _no she is not okay_ , but she blinked, her anger temporarily shelved aside when she noted some skin peeling from below his ear and down his chin.

It was a mask.

_Right._  With all that car chasing, James Bond parody that taken up her mind space, she hadn't had the time to care about any other things. But now that the actions were over and she had brain space to spare, she should have known everything about him was a disguise, not that anything of his current appearance fitted him anyway; his dark blonde hair and honey-brown eyes—

All of the sudden, Kid scrunched his face and pinched his nose, surprising Aoko as she sucked in a breath and held it there.

_Is he going to take off his mask?_

That thought didn't linger in her head for long as Kid proved her guess wrong; Instead, all he did was taking off his contact lenses and flicked them onto the ground before patting the side of his jaw again. She would have chided him for littering, but her focus was all on the true colour of his eyes.

Not honey-brown like what he disguised. Not black when it didn't fit the demeanour of Kaitou Kid. Not anything but—

Blue. Deep, aqua blue.

And  _that_ fitted him.

"Stop staring." Kid said, his eyebrows raised amusingly. "This isn't my real face."

"I know." Aoko cleared her throat, dispelling those weird and irrelevant thoughts. "But at least now I know your real eyes are blue."

Kid smirked and teasingly touched his mask. "Are you curious about my real face?"

Aoko growled. "What I'm curious instead is how you're going to repay me."

That managed to ease the stupid grin on his face. "Right." He muttered, avoiding her gaze as he looked out at the sea. At least he seemed genuinely guilty, and that rare expression was probably the only thing that made the anger whirling within Aoko to finally die down.

"I owe you a car." Kid said finally. "And one favour."

Aoko scoffed. " _One_  favour?"

"…Two?"

"Five."

Kid made a dying whale noise. "Fine."

"Good." Aoko grinned, the only time she ever felt happy with the presence of Kid for once. "It's a deal."

"K."

Another night breeze blew by and Aoko visibly shivered. "Now what? How are we going to get out of this place? And that boss-?"

"No need to worry about that  _boss_. You should just focus on thinking how you are going to go home."

"Since you are  _The Kaitou Kid_ , why don't  _you_  think of a solution?" Aoko glowered.

"I already did."

"So? What is it?"

Kid smirked. "Why should I tell you?"

" _What?_ "

"Going home is your problem, not mine. Unless you decide to use that one favour  _then_  I can help you with it."

" _No._ This would be too easy for you."

"Sure then." Kid shrugged, but Aoko spotted the slight curve on the side of his lips as he walked away. "You can stay here and wait for a taxi or something."

"Wait-" Aoko stomped after him. "I have nothing on me except for my house keys."

"Are you telling me  _or_  are you hinting me to lend you money? 'Cause my answer is a no, if it's the latter."

"You ended my car in the water!"

"And _hence_  the five favours repayment." Kid stopped and gave her a pointed look. "I asked if you want to use it and you said no. So, bye."

"Fine! I'll use up one of that favour." Aoko muttered, wrapping her arms across her chest. She was cold  _and_  tired, the worse kind of combination one could have, and all she wanted right now was to go home. If she had to waste one favour to fulfil that wish, so be it.

Kid kept his smile intact all the time and nodded. "Good. Four to go."

"So," Aoko narrowed her eyes. "How are we going back?"

He silently answered with his head gesture. Aoko followed his line of sight, the direction he was previously heading.

Leaning under the lone lamppost just a few feet away from them was an electric scooter bike. It looked a little rundown, but still ridable. Maybe.

Aoko's eyes squinted even further. Kid and scooter... didn't quite match. "Um, is that yours?"

"Nope." He said as he pulled out a long pin from his pocket.

"Then what are you doing?" Aoko gasped, eyes wide as she watched Kid pushing the long pin into the key slot and tweaking around with it.

"Borrowing the scooter." He answered like it couldn't have been more obvious in the world.

"Borrowing? You're  _stealing_."

"I'm not stealing. I'm  _borrowing_. This is our only transport available." He emphasised again. "I'll return it to its place tomorrow."

" _Really_?"

"Really." Kid said, and right at that moment, the scooter jolted and came to life.

His key  _worked_.

Aoko didn't have the energy to continue this conversation. She pretty much couldn't believe everything that happened too, actually. But using whatever strength she had left in her, she pinched her damp cheeks a couple of times. And, sadly, when she found herself wincing from the pain and knowing that it wasn't a dream, she slumped behind him on the scooter and sulked all the way as he drove her back home.

It was a terribly long ride, but time could have been manipulated in her mind when she wasn't enjoying the cold and bumpy moments. Once the neighbourhood turned familiar and the view of her house appeared, Aoko got off the scooter even before Kid fully stopped and dashed into her home without sparing him a glance because of how nauseous and cold and sick she was feeling, but when she climbed up the stairs to her bathroom and looked through the window that showed the front of her house, he was already gone.

She bathed for as long her skin allowed and checked the internet after she was done. But her eyelids weren't able to cooperate much as the most she could do was to refresh the latest news for about three times before she slumped onto her bed and slept in grateful silence (because there wasn't any police knocking on her door too).

Only half an hour later, Aoko suddenly jolted up from her dreamless sleep in horror, very much realizing Kid had  _indeed_  sent her home, yet she never once tell him where she lived.

.o.

The next morning, still tired and restless than Aoko could ever be, she dragged herself and her throbbing headache to the bathroom to prepare herself for the day, but in an instant when her side-long glance passed by her windows, she changed her mind.

In a split second, Aoko stumbled out of her house, her jaw almost reaching the floor.

A beautiful, dark blue car—that Aoko wasn't sure if she deserved—was parked right by her mailbox. She could stand there and stare at it forever, but something compelled her towards the mailbox as she flipped the lid open.

Inside, Aoko found a bundle of newspapers, which was strange because she never subscribed to any before. But knowing it got to be related to her  _gift_ , she hastily took the newspaper out and flipped the papers open.

A note fell out in between the pages and she picked it up from the floor, but the headlines caught more of her attention than the note, for now.

_Black Market Leader Gozu arrested over multiple charges._

Aoko blinked.

Below the headlines showed a couple of men, including Gozu, handcuffed and arrested in the wee morning, probably just two hours after Kid sent her home, and by the same dock that her car fell into.

The newspaper in her hand began to shake.

No wonder she found the name Gozu so familiar when she heard Kid mentioned it for a brief second. Then again, why was Kid running away from him? What exactly happened? Was this major arrest his doing? Why would Kid...?

Just remembering the note, Aoko opened the slip of paper and began to read:

_Thanks for the assistance last night. Rather than doing your boring finding-cheating-wives-or-husbands business, would you like to consider being my assistant part-time? You can continue justice while I drag my competitors down one by one till I monopolise the industry. We can make such a great team._

_Here's the car as a repayment last night. Her name is called blue baby. Please take good care of her. And since I know you need the car more urgently first, I haven't prepared the phone for communication. I'll send it to you another day._

_-Kaitou Kid_

Aoko had to reread the note another seven times, caressed the newspaper three times and touched the car four times before she realized this, again, wasn't another dream.

Kaitou Kid might be everything that Aoko despised, but he had given her things that nobody could give her; In just the short span of twelve hours, Aoko had received enough surprises for a lifetime.

 

* * *

  

**Kaito's debt of a lifetime**

 

Though having to bear the painful feeling of ultimate reluctance, Kaito was still able to sacrifice his time and efforts to do certain things for people, such as returning favours and acting as a consultant for certain stupid reasons. But if this was about giving up his magic inventions or anything out of his precious car-collections, that would totally be another case.

But… Nakamori Aoko had always been  _another case_  for him.

Pinching his nose, Kaito groaned.

"Are you  _done_?" Behind him, Hattori Heiji said as he sat on the stool in Kaito's underground garage, looking bored and pissed (and as usual: annoying). Heiji glanced at his watch. "How long are you going to keep staring at your damn cars?"

Kaito snapped him an irritable gaze. "You came uninvited  _and_  unannounced. Don't expect me to welcome you like a guest."

Heiji rolled his eyes. "As if you  _ever_  welcomed  _anyone_  like a guest."

"Can you just let me think in peace for another five minutes?"

"Think about  _what_? How to materialise another car?"

"Will you shut up if I say yes?"

"No." Heiji jabbed a finger into his watch. "Kazuha's birthday is coming and if we don't think off a plan now, it'll be too late,  _again_."

"...I don't even know why I agreed to help you." Kaito muttered under his breath.

"Because you're guilty for ruining my proposal that I'd planned for over seven months—"

"K. I've decided."

Heiji scowled at the interruption, but straightened at the next moment. "Decided what?"

"My blue baby it is." Kaito said, walking over to pat the trunk of his dark blue Audi car that he got a year ago, the shortest time among the other cars he'd taken care of. Though it was the last on his attachment list… it was still nonetheless worthy to be in his garage. He really liked the dark shade of the blue and the—

"What are you talking about?" Heiji's frown deepened. "What are you doing to your car?"

Grabbing the right keys from his desk, Kaito skipped back to the car again. "I'll only be back in another half an hour. Feel free to stay here and admire my cars, if you like. But if I found any scratches or whatsoever, just be reminded that I know where you keep the first edition of your Ellery Queen's series at."

Heiji flung up from the stool. "Where the hell are you going? Kid-!"

Kaito didn't give Heiji a chance to finish his words as he slammed the door shut, fired up the engine and sped out of the garage. He glanced into the rear-mirror, watching Heiji's mouth moving at rapid speed, probably in chants of curses and swears. It made him slightly pleased for the day. Just slightly.

He navigated past the town at ease (already memorising the roads last night when he returned home) and found Aoko's house coming into view in less than fifteen minutes (that was how surprisingly close their homes were). Kaito wrapped his fingers tightly around the steering wheel, feeling the  _touch_ for the last time, perhaps. This was indeed the biggest debt he had to pay. Shinichi once topped it with five favours, but now Aoko won everyone with five favours  _plus_  a car. His precious car.

But nobody needed to know that. Not ever. He didn't need anyone to feel  _challenge-y_  one day and decided to claim the first on his list again.

Kaito slowed down after making a turn into Aoko's street and parked the car in front of her mailbox.

It was already too bright outside to tell if Aoko's houses lights were on or off, but it didn't matter anyway (it wasn't like he anticipated an interaction with her or whatever). He pulled today's newspaper out of his sleeves and read the title page, sighing. Aoko would definitely suspect something once she read the news, but if he could provide her some context to his reasons, it was possible that she wouldn't read too much into his actions and be confused if he was a good or bad guy, which was the last thing he needed.

For extra convincing, he scribbled something teasing on a piece of paper and slotted it in between the newspaper. He then got off the car, dumped them into her mailbox, along with his keys, and left as quickly as he came.

It was painful to turn back to see his car for the last time, but if he did, or just stop to glance back for a curious second before he turned round the corner of the street, he would have seen Aoko's wide eyes and gaping mouth as she stumbled out of her house.

That sight might be Kaito's biggest missed opportunity ever had in his life, but it was alright, really. Because if he were to see Aoko reacting that way in her cute, panda pyjamas and slippers, he would probably have his eyes just as wide and mouth gaping open like the  _bigger_ fool.

Giving up his car was already a big deal, so the least he could do was to retain some of his dignity too.


	4. Chapter 4

 

**Aoko's win**

   

The scrap value of her dead car was only enough to pay half of the new camera she bought. It was fine, anyway, since she had always been wanting to change her camera for a long time, and truthfully, it was the same for her car too.

And now, because of some strange yet good  _timing_ , Aoko got a free car, a new camera and four free favours from Kaitou Kid. She wasn't sure which was the best thing she got out of this deal, but it still wasn't a hundred percent good ending; the photo evidences she painstakingly taken for a case that night were gone, and she had to get them all over again before her client's meeting in three days' time.

With Kid's help, of course. It was his fault.

(Technically, what Aoko got were three free favours. Not four.)

It was late noon, the bustling period was over for a restaurant business; only a couple of seats were taken up by some office workers, a handful of high-school students and a few couples. Aoko stirred her glass of ice tea and looked out of her restaurant booth. The food seemed interesting, from the plates she managed to glimpse at from her table, and the location wasn't far off from her office too... She would try some dishes here one day, but today wouldn't be that day. The last thing Aoko wanted in her life was to have a meal with the presence of Kid, and she would rather die than get teased by him for trying something he suggested; this meeting place was sent by him after all.

Aoko glanced at the phone beside her drink, which she found in her mailbox just a day after she  _stumbled_  upon a car outside her house (Even if Kid had countless personality defects, Aoko got to admit he was good at keeping his words and fulfilling them without any drag). It was a brandless old flip phone—one she saw her dad used in the past when she was young. She did consider sewing a phone pouch for it (since it's impossible to find a case for a flip phone now), but it would be too much work for something she wasn't going to use for a long run.

Right at the brief thought, the phone buzzed, causing Aoko to jump. She glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one saw her embarrassing moment before picking up the phone with a scowl.

Pressing a couple of buttons (she was still trying to accustom to pressing the keypad instead of the screen itself), Aoko finally opened the new message.

_'Coming.'_

Aoko rolled her eyes. All this effort of pressing so many buttons to read one, pointless word message? She tried texting back: ' _Hurry up'_ , and pressed sent, but like what she expected, her phone buzzed in her hand, showing an error message of her failed text.

It was stupid, and something she was going to ask Kid about; why did he give her a phone that didn't allow her to text back? The only way to notify him that she needed to talk to him was pressing the number one keypad for exactly six seconds, as written on the little note he left with the phone. She did the instructed steps yesterday, and within two minutes, Kid texted her the date (which was today), time (which was now) and location (and here she was), and added that he was only available then. Yeah, what a big shot. As if he was the only person entitled to be busy.

Busy plotting to steal things, maybe.

The bell chimed by the restaurant door and Aoko turned, setting the flip phone down by her drink. A man walked in, his hands stuffed inside the pockets of a jacket as he did. A waiter approached him and they talked in murmurs as he glanced about, until when he spotted her in her booth.

Upon closer inspection as he began walking around the tables and making his way towards her, Aoko realized his black hair wasn't exactly messy like she thought at first; it was just a little spiky at the back and his fringe was long and had to be swiped aside. And there were his eyes-!

The same blue ones Aoko remembered that night.

Her breath hitched.

_Could it be...?_

"Yo." The man slipped into the booth with ease, his honey-ed, charming tone loudly claiming _I'm Kid_  despite his calm voice.

Aoko had to take a couple of sips to keep her composure cool and stop the chanting of _his eyes! his eyes!_  in her head. "Um, yo."

Kid frowned. "What?"

"What  _what?_ "

"Why are you staring at me with your creepy eyes?"

"I don't have creepy eyes." Aoko scowled and looked away. "I was just... looking at your  _disguise_. Just to be sure it's you, or something."

Kid leaned forward, and a faint, mixed scent of cinnamon and lemon filled Aoko's nose. "Are you interested to know whose face this belongs to?"

"No." Aoko mentally applauded for her firm and assertive tone. "He's probably just some poor soul you saw on the street, isn't it?"

"Is he your type?" Kid asked with a grin.

" _No_." Aoko reaffirmed again, regretting the moment of mentioning  _anything_  about his disguise. This conversation was going nowhere (even if she was truly curious about this topic). She wondered if she should start on her case, but her eyes slipped to the flip phone and her new thoughts gathered into words. "By the way, why can't I text you?"

Kid stared at the phone and scoffed, like it was the stupidest question he ever heard. "And give you the chance to spam me unnecessary things? No." He spat (He also sounded like this had been an experience before).

"What if I'm not available and needed to change the date? Or time? Or location?"

"Then it means the favour you want from me isn't important for you to compromise, which is a clear suggestion that you are not putting my help to good use." He smirked. "You should think carefully, you know. This is a chance of a lifetime."

"You  _made_  me use one favour just to send me home."

"Ah, but going home was the one and only thing that you wanted back then, wasn't it?"

Aoko gritted her teeth, unable to think of anything to retort at the moment because Kid was annoyingly and stupidly correct.  _Now_ , it seemed like a very good time to start on the motive of their meeting. She pulled out a folder from her bag and Kid eyed her as she did.

"I've got an urgent case and I need to collect a week's worth of evidence in a span of three days."

Knowing it was business, Kid nodded, somehow enough to show bits of effort that he was listening. She chose not to bring up her damaged camera—because this blaming game was going to only be a waste of time—and went straight to the point of her story of a cheating husband and miserable wife and the two children she desperately wanted to get the custody of.

If Aoko knew better, she thought Kid was showing some empathy through the fixation of his gaze on her as she explained, until he yawned near the end of her story and broke the seriousness in his eyes. She was about to ask if he was even listening in the first place until he waved a hand. "This is easy. No need three days. All I need is one, which is tonight." He drawled.

"Are you going to do something illegal?" Aoko paused, hoping her words sunk into Kid's brain. "My client is using the evidence in court. It  _has_  to be legal."

"It's as legal as snooping around and taking pictures of people without their permission." Kid rolled his eyes, which tempted Aoko to pinch his nose and pull his mask off. "You said the guy's name is Yuui Saito?"

"Yes." Aoko answered tentatively.

"I also know one Yuui Saito that fitted the description of your story; He's also a lawyer and has one sad wife and two miserable kids. And if we're really talking about the same Yuui Saito, then I do know he's going to his favourite, underground club tonight to meet his usual flings."

"Huh?" Aoko blurted in surprise. "His secretary is not the only mistress?"

Kid laughed. "He has at least five."

It wasn't possible. Aoko dug deeper into her folder. Originally she didn't intend to show Yuui Saito's photo to Kid, yet, until when they agreed on a common plan. But she couldn't believe the Yuui Saito he knew was the same Yuui Saito she was targeting when the results she gotten were  _completely_  off. She pulled out a photo that her client gave her and passed it to Kid.

"Is this him?" Aoko urged.

"Ah." Kid nodded. "The one and only."

She scowled and kept the photograph.

He watched her with an amused glint in his eyes. "Feeling bitter because you realized you barely scratched the surface for this case?"

"I just… didn't manage to follow  _that_  far." It sounded like a petty excuse to use to defend herself, but it was really the truth. Yuui Saito was really on another level of a cheating husband; his level of stealth was quite hard for Aoko to keep up, which was one of the reasons why it took her a week to get the evidence when she could wrap up most of her other cases in three days.

(But all Kid needed was a night)

"K. So, as I was saying, this is going to be easy." Kid started again, breaking Aoko's line of thought. "I'll pass you the photos you need tomorrow."

"Wait- But I'm coming with you."

"No. You don't belong there; you're just going to make this even harder to collect the evidence."

"Right." Aoko rolled her eyes. "So  _you_ belong there, then?"

"Why… do you sound jealous?"

She gripped onto her side of the table and showed obvious attempts to flip it. "Like hell I am!"

Kid was smirking all the time; he was definitely riling up her temper on purpose. "I'm going to do all the work for you so you should just sit back and relax. I'll text you the location to meet again."

"Are you sure about the information you said yourself?" Aoko frowned, still dubious about the whole idea. "How do you know Yuui Saito anyway?"

"You think his only crime is being a cheating husband?" Kid tapped a finger on his temple and cast her a pointed look. "It shouldn't be hard for you to figure out why I  _know_  him _."_

Aoko blinked. "Then you're going to betray him?"

"I never say we're friends either." Kid leaned against his seat and stifled another yawn. "This will be a fun opportunity to screw him up a bit. And I supposed his soon-to-be ex wife and kids deserve better too."

She wasn't sure if Kid knew he had spoken the last sentence aloud, but for the first time, Aoko thought he sounded like a human (even if he acted like he wasn't).

"How much can I trust you that this will work out?" Aoko asked.

"A hundred and one percent." Kid said, flicking a piece of breadcrumb he found off the corner of the table, his expression bored. "And for assurance, even if I couldn't come up with the photos by tomorrow, we still have two days to think of another plan. No need to be paranoid for now."

Lo and behold, his words  _did_  give her some bit of an assurance, and Aoko leaned back on her seat too with the glass of ice tea in her hand since she had nothing else to say. Besides doing the favour he owed her, she was sure he was busy with his other  _matters_ , but for the next five minutes, he sat there silently the entire time while looking at his phone, seemingly as if he was waiting for her to finish her ice tea before leaving. And it was only after he walked out of the restaurant then Aoko realized how alone she was, even though she never felt this way when she was waiting for Kid.

Knowing that she'd use too much of her brain cells to think of an answer towards this strange feeling, she quickly paid for her drink and left no sooner after Kid did.

.o.

Aoko wasn't sure if Kid realised the weirdness of his location suggestions, or that he did, and he was doing it on purpose to mess with her.

Tapping her foot on the ground just beside the cinema's ticketing booth, Aoko checked the clock on her phone for the sixth time that ten minutes. Kid was late, but unlike yesterday, he didn't send any additional text to inform if he was on the way or not, though that shouldn't have matter.

Should it?

"Hello."

Shocked, Aoko turned.

Kid never disguised his voice, but his face was; his eyes were green and hair combed to the side like a typical, neat office worker. And maybe because he thought it was too plain, he added freckles to his make-up.

But despite all that effort, it still didn't quite  _fit_. Of all the disguises Aoko ever saw of him, the one in the restaurant suited him the most, and she almost thought it could have been his real face... But why would he ever show it to her? There would be no benefits behind that action besides it being a stupid mistake. Still, she couldn't put a word to this weird intuition, so the best course of action would be to ignore her feelings and focus on the matter at hand.

"You're late. Again." Aoko narrowed her eyes.

Kid glanced away. "Sorry." He said, his voice toneless and not sounding as guilty as Aoko thought he should be.

She wanted to holler at him with tons of questions; why he was late, where had he been and who he was with, etcetera, but that was just going overboard with the curiosity  _or_  concern she should have for him. She decided to change the questions for a better and logical one, something she had the rights to ask, at least.

"Ok. One thing before we start, because you  _don't allow_  me to text you back," Aoko gestured around the box office for emphasis as every corner was nothing short of couples, be it married with kids or not. "Why are our meeting places so..."

_Dating-like?_

There was  _no_  way was she going to say that, but she trusted Kid to know what her words meant—

"So brilliant?" Kid finished her sentence. "No one's going to take notice of us when we blend in so well."

_That_  was  _exactly_  Aoko's problem. She didn't want to blend in such environment  _with_  Kid, even if he'd got a good point; No one bothered to give them a second glance since they looked just like any couples here. But it still irked her though, when they could just meet at her office where privacy wouldn't be of a concern, and it was so much more convenient for her...

_Whatever._  Aoko sighed (She rather just get this over and done with instead). "You've got the pictures?" She prompted.

"Yes." Kid pulled out something from his pocket and slipped it into her hand, their fingers almost intertwined—

Aoko reacted with a gasp and pulled away like his hand was scalding hot, but Kid retracted his hand away too.

"Can you relax a little?" Kid cast her a sneer. "You're acting as if I'm going to kidnap you."

"You surprised me." She admitted.

"Keep up the acting and relax."

"What for? No one is looking."

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

"...Why are you being so wary?" Aoko frowned, her stomach started to stir uncomfortably. "Did Yuui Saito know and he's stalking you-?"

"As if he's capable of that." Kid gestured his head over to her hand, reminding Aoko about the thing he had passed to her. She unclasped her fist, just big enough for her to see what it was.

It was a thumb drive.

"I've taken a lot but only transferred the incriminating ones." Kid continued. "But I think the two video files are more than enough to win the case."

Aoko's neck almost flew up. "You have videos?"

"Yes." He tilted his head. "Why? Is that bad?"

"No-! It's great, actually." Aoko clutched onto the thumb drive close to her chest. "That would definitely help a lot." She didn't mean it, or intended to, but she couldn't stop herself from letting the genuine gratefulness slip into her tone—

"Yeah, so…" Kid lifted his hand and waved three fingers over her face. "One favour down. Three more to go."

Aoko snorted. Sure, Kid should get some credit for tripling the chance of winning this custody case for her client, but his words also reminded her that this was what he owed her, and he didn't do it out of good will; it was all just a repayment.

That was it.

She cleared her throat, immediately and thoroughly regretting to even sound thankful towards him in the first place. "Yes, yes. Three more to go." She drawled.

"Good." Kid took a step back and stuck his hand back into his pocket. "You can have the thumb drive. I don't need it anymore. Bye."

With that, he left.

_That... was fast._  Aoko thought (But shouldn't it be a good case?).

She had no intention to  _see_  him off, but his unique strides made her eyes glue to his back, and by the time she realized she was staring, he'd disappeared after he turned towards the corner of the street.

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's loss**

 

"Kid."

Kaito turned and faced the entrance of the quiet alley, fully knowing the source of the low and gruffy voice without even having to think. He stared at the man walking towards him, both of his hands deep inside the pockets of his trench coat. Kaito was half guessing there was a gun in one of the pockets. Or maybe both. Ready for any attack if any threat was found.

As for Kaito himself, he had his hands shown as his arms were crossed, clearly signifying  _I'm not your threat,_ even if mutually they never once trusted each other.

Not now. Not ever.

"You're early." Snake snarled as he closed the distance with heavy footsteps, his eyes glinting a dangerous light under his usual fedora hat. "I'm surprised, because you do seem rather busy  _lately_."

Kaito tried hard not to flinch at his words and only tightened his arms around his chest. He... couldn't be hinting about his previous meeting and the favour he did for Aoko, could he? There were many risks Kaito was willing to take, but he wasn't confident enough to allow the risk of Snake knowing her existence (Even if there wasn't much difference to the bastard he already was, the least Kaito could do was to prevent one life to be ruined).

He should have worn a disguise when he met Aoko in the restaurant.

Kaito took in a slow breath to stall time. He needed to be careful with the context of his words. "I have my own things to do."

"Like taking Gozu down and his other, pesky businesses?" Snake glared at Kaito over his nose. "You're supposed to focus on what's necessary."

_Oh._ So it was about that. The ache on his shoulder fell away. "What's wrong with getting rid of him? Isn't he an eyesore to you too?"

"Yes. But he's not your job scope."

"Then shouldn't you be grateful that I'm doing extra work? I'm not even charging you anything."

"I rather you focus on your goal:  _our_  goal." Snake narrowed his eyes. "There's no time to waste."

Kaito sighed. "Isn't that why I'm here now?"

That put things back into perspective for Snake as his temper died down, just a bit. He pulled out a folded paper from his trench coat and passed it to Kaito. "This is your next steal."

Kaito opened the note.  _Gentle Tears. Owner: Fujisaki Hiro._

"Deliver the jewel to me immediately after you're done. Deadline is next Tuesday." Snake said, his tone spelling a warning sign that Kaito knew pretty well. "I don't want any failures."

Bored, Kaito stuffed the note into his pocket. "And have I ever failed?"

"No. But everyone is bound to have their firsts."

"K." Kaito waved him off and trudged out of the alley.

He knew Snake was watching his every move as he departed, so having no choice, he had to waste some time roaming around the streets aimlessly, just to get rid of the possibility that Snake and his men were on his tail. He was already late for Aoko's meeting, but if that would lower the risk of jeopardising her safety, it was worth it.

After a couple of more turns and minutes of walk, Kaito thought it should be safe to head over now. He slipped into a random shopping mall's restroom and quickly changed into his usual _nice-man_  disguise before jogging to the location he prompted Aoko in the text. From afar before he reached, he spotted her by the ticketing booth, one foot tapping on the ground as she glanced at her phone. She looked just like any girl standing outside the cinema, impatiently waiting for her boyfriend who's late for the date

_Date?_

He almost wanted to laugh until he stuck his hand into his pocket and felt the note Snake gave him.

The reminder killed all the happy enzymes within him.

_"There's no time to waste."_

Right.

Squaring his shoulders, Kaito took a deep breath and walked towards Aoko.

"Hello."

Aoko spun around. She looked surprised, then disappointed (he couldn't figure out why), and then she finally scowled.

"You're late. Again." She said, her eyes squinty and cu—

Kaito glanced away, quickly brushing off the thought before his brain could process the word. "Sorry." Was all he knew to say as his mind drew close to a blank.

Blank? His mind had never been blank.

But it did. Just for a brief second.

Maybe, even if irritatingly so, Snake could be right; everyone is bound to have their firsts after all.


	5. Chapter 5

 

**Aoko's confession**

 

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Ow."

"Sorry." Aoko whispered back and squeezed her arm closely to the side of her chest in reflex.

It was dark, but the flashlight in Kid's hand briefly shone on his face as he moved again, showing a teasing grin. "You're forgiven. Let's continue."

Aoko scowled, but did like what Kid said (It was best to continue than wasting air in this tiny space when even breathing was difficult). She scooted her body forward, careful to keep to her side of her space and avoid chafing Kid's arm, which she had been doing for the past fifteen minutes since they began crawling through the air duct together.

They were somewhere between the fourth and the fifth floor of a secluded factory that mass produced date-rape drugs in the black market. They weren't here for fun (obviously), and nothing related to coincidence (finally). Aoko was here for a job, which was a case tasked by the officials, asking for her assistance in gathering some evidence of this illegal drug-making crime before busting it down with a warrant of arrest. It wasn't often for her to receive such a big responsibility, which meant she couldn't afford any failures too.

And hence, Aoko got Kid to help.

He was here to return the third favour.

But despite knowing the higher rate of completing her case right, there were many reasons that made Aoko contemplate against the idea of asking him (even though she still went ahead in the end).

One, if she was ever brought to court to explain the methods used to break this case, she wasn't sure if  _"asking Kaitou Kid"_  would be applicable.

Two, she felt like she  _owed_  Kid more after this, because using his help just to exchange for one favour seemed a bit of a scam for him.

Three, this was a perfect chance for him to boast it in her face, about how she needed his help and connection to pull this case through in the end.

But surprisingly, her third reason became an empty worry; he never once mocked her at all. Rather, he seemed equally interested when she was explaining the case to him earlier (his intense gaze on her was quite overwhelming sometimes).

For that seriousness she never knew he had it in him, she decided to silently thank him by not talking about his recent steal— _Gentle Tears,_ and also because she had  _learnt_  a lot of  _things_ from him today.

It was an art of manipulation, Kid said, as he convinced two factory workers to quit their job on the spot as they were on their way to work—because that factory wasn't just awful for selling these despicable drugs but they mistreated their workers too. They agreed almost without hesitation to Kid's words, not before dumping their entry passes and uniform they brought along to change in the factory. Kid gathered them after they left and passed one set to Aoko.

It was an art of deception, Kid said, as he slipped inside the factory, with big smiles and laughter as he blended well with the rest of the factory workers and talked to them like they were long lost friends. Aoko could tell they were slightly puzzled, of course, because no one recognised Kid's disguise, but his demeanour was so convincing that everyone thought he was a regular, and without hesitation, they told him the owner's private office was located on the fifth floor.

So here they were, climbing through the air vent side by side as they made their way to the said office. And finally after chafing each other's arms and tangling with each other's legs, they finally reached.

"Okay. We're here." Kid muttered and switched off his flashlight. He peered through the gap of the ceiling vent above the office, watching a couple of heavy-build men standing around and guarding a man (who Aoko recognized was the owner of this damn factory) from who-knows-what; Maybe a guilty person had too much to fear.

Aoko felt the thumb drive in her pocket. She was so,  _so_  ready to bust the computer, which the owner was currently looking at on his desk, but… how? She did know a couple of Judo moves, but she had no idea how Kid's fighting skills was (he looked more skilled in dodging than fighting). What's more when the number of bodyguards was already a glaringly disadvantage to them.

She bit her lip, unsure of how to progress. "What are we-"

Before Aoko finish her sentence, Kid took out something from his back pocket. The thing was modelled like a tiny  _walkie talkie_ , but knowing Kid and his unusual props, she guessed this apparent  _walkie talkie_ wouldn't be simply what it seemed.

Without a hint or warning, Kid began twisting the tiny knobs on the  _walkie talkie_ , and in the next two seconds, fire alarms blasted throughout the factory, ringing so loudly even the air vent was vibrating from the sound.

The owner stood up from his desk. "What the hell is that?"

One guard raised his hand. "The fire alarm is activated, boss."

"I  _know_ that. It was a rhetorical question." The owner then pointed at all the guards. "Go check out what is happening and ensure the workers aren't messing around either."

"Yes boss."

Everyone scurried out, except for the owner himself, as he sat back on his seat and began looking through whatever was on his computer again.

From the corner of Aoko's eyes, she saw Kid smirked. He then turned towards her, his mouth open and about to say something, but she cut him off. "And is this the art of distraction?" She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Not bad. You're learning fast." Kid grinned, keeping the  _walkie talkie_  in his pocket.

She had missed the chance to ask what exactly that toy of his was, but it didn't matter anyway. "Just get us out of here already." She muttered.

"My pleasure."

As if Kid had done it a thousand times (which Aoko thought it might be true), he knocked the vent open with a swift hit from his elbow. The vent cover fell from the ceiling and smashed onto the floor, shocking the owner on his feet again.

"What the-" The owner widened his eyes as Aoko and Kid jumped down from above. "Who the fuck are you guys-?!"

Kid rolled up his sleeve, revealing the same watch she remembered him wearing during their previous car chase disaster. With a quick aim, he pressed both sides of his watch, and something small flew out, hitting the owner's neck. Aoko watched, in horror, as the owner's angry eyes rolled to the back of his head before his face hit the floor.

Aoko nearly shrieked. Nearly. "What the hell is that?!" She hissed.

"Is it a rhetorical question?" Kid said, but it wasn't him at the same time. He said it in the owner's voice, which agitated Aoko even more.

"I'm being serious!" Aoko scurried to the owner's side, eyes running over his motionless body as she shook his body. On the second shake, though, Kid grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" He glowered.

"I-Is he dead?!" Aoko said, exasperated. "He seems dead! Oh my god, I asked you to help, not kill a person, even if he deserves it-"

" _Relax."_  Kid rolled his eyes. "What I shot him was a tranquilliser dart. Just letting him taste his own medicine."

"A… tranquilliser dart? From a watch?"

"Yes. Never knew such an useful invention until someone taught me the hard way."

Aoko only managed a frown and a gaping mouth before Kid gestured his head to the computer. "Do your job. The fire alarm is off and I think the guards are going to come back. We only have five minutes till then.""

That warning instantly got Aoko scrambled for her work.

Kid fulfilled his unsaid role and trudged towards the door to keep a lookout. He would occasionally glance at Aoko, and she could feel his gaze too, until one moment when she sensed he was staring at her way longer than necessary. So she raised her head from the computer for a brief moment, wanting to ask what he wanted, to only find that he actually wasn't looking at her.

He was looking at the thumb drive.

"Isn't that the thumb drive I gave you?" He asked the moment she looked up.

Aoko blinked and then looked down for confirmation. Now that she noticed, she had indeed picked the thumb drive he gave her, out of the dozen random ones she had in her drawer.

Coincidence seemed like a word she had been saying to herself a lot since meeting Kid.

She cleared her throat, faking nonchalance towards this whole unimportant  _issue_. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No." Kid smiled and turned back to check on the corridor. "Not at all." She heard him mutter the second time.

Treating as the past fifteen seconds didn't exist, Aoko continued working on the computer.

She found the files almost too easily, and the transferring was a breeze, but not everything was going to end up a happy ending. The tranquilliser effect must have started to wear off as the owner on the floor began to stir, and a faint chorus of footsteps could be heard coming from the stairways beside the office too.

Kid, of course, noticed all that. "Are you done?" He asked as he walked towards her with haste.

"Almost… and yes!" Aoko exclaimed, plugging out the thumb drive. She was still in the midst of her mini-celebratory for the job well done, until Kid suddenly pushed her shoulders.

"K, great." He said, still pushing her until they stood under the air vent that they just busted through. He then dragged a table over and pointed it to her. "Now get out of here."

Aoko frowned. She wasn't sure if it was her weird sense of intuition or the way Kid phrased his words… "You're coming with me too, right?"

"Of course not." He looked at her, almost perplexed about how she even came up with that thought. "We'll be caught at the other end if we crawl out together. Remember what I taught you? About the art of-"

"I'm  _not_  going to leave you behind as a distraction!" Aoko snapped. "That's against my-"

"Principle. Yes, yes." Kid grinned. "Don't you find it beautiful that we are completing each other sentences?"

" _No_. Back to what we're  _discussing_ , I'm not leaving you behind."

Kid placed a hand theatrically over his chest. "It's very touching of you to care about me—" Behind them, the owner made a groaning sound. "—but as you can  _hear_  and see, we don't have time to waste."

"I can't-"

"Do you trust me?"

Aoko blinked, her lips parted in mute shock. What that hell was that sudden, random question for? And wasn't the answer obvious enough the moment she contacted him for such an important case? If she didn't trust him, she would  _never_  have approached him, be it if he owed her favours or not…

He was still staring at her with that questionable gaze that she couldn't pull away from, most probably still waiting for her reply. But strangely, her throat got stuck and she couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't get to admit the truthful answer to Kid. Still, she thought her actions might speak louder than words—

"Likewise, I don't trust you too." Kid finally responded to her silence.

It seemed her actions weren't loud enough for him to see.

"Kid-" Aoko tried to explain, but he cut her off and nudged her up the table again.

"I don't trust your abilities, but I trust  _mine_. Windows are my speciality." He jabbed a thumb at the huge glass window at the side of the wall. "You're just going to be a burden if you come with me."

"Wha-" Aoko growled. "Burden-?"

"Yes. Burden. So I need you to get out of here first. And if you're not going to climb up, I'm going to push you up. Don't blame me if I touch your butt."

"I will  _kill_  you."

"Yay." Kid rolled his eyes. "Hurry and go."

Aoko would love to stay and rebuke even further, but the heavy footsteps were getting louder till a point it was echoing in the room. Reluctantly, she climbed up the table and tiptoed, her fingers reaching out for the vent as she pulled herself up and crawled into the air duct.

She couldn't see anything besides the dark shadows inside, but she heard the table being pushed away below.

The owner groaned again.

More footsteps.

Louder, and louder—

"Boss-? Wait, who are you!"

The next thing Aoko heard was the glass shattering.

Then the sound of wind. Lots of paper fluttering.

"Get him! Get that bastard!"

The same heavy footsteps echoed, but faster.

After what seemed like a million years, there was only silence, and the occasional fluttering of wind and papers.

Everyone was gone.

_"Hurry and go."_

Letting out a breath, Aoko slowly navigated her way through the air duct based on memory.

Fifteen minutes of non-stop crawling later, Aoko made it out of the vent and into the empty pantry room. She slipped into a group of factory workers that was coincidentally passing by, and from groups to groups, she pretended to blend in with them until she was near the exit door and dashed out without anyone noticing.

The guards weren't anywhere to be found.

So was Kid.

And the owner.

Aoko bit her lips.

Kid might not have trusted her, but she trusted him; on his words and abilities that he would get out of here safely too.

Or maybe he already did.

Yeah. Maybe.

With that faith in mind, she prioritised her mission and decided to head straight to the Police headquarters with the evidence in hand, but not after dumping her factory uniform and changing back into her clothes, which Kid suggested to hide them in the bush behind the factory.

She found her clothes in the bushes, as well as Kid's.

Aoko briefly caressed his shirt in her hand.

Maybe he hadn't got out  _yet_. But he would, eventually.

Yeah. He would.

Focus.  _Focus._

She stowed his clothes back into the hiding spot, got changed into her own, and continued on finishing her goal.

.o.

Switching off her TV, Aoko trudged back to her bedroom and stifled a yawn. She was beyond tired and her back was aching (probably from all the crawling) since the entire day. It was a wonder how she actually sat through the news as the reporter was rambling the things she already knew, but thinking back about the short clip when the owner's head was shoved into the police car, staying up was worth it.

Aoko fell onto her bed and spread herself out like a starfish. She blankly stared at her white ceiling, but imageries of a similar one came to her mind; with a vent, large table by her side, and Kid urging her to climb out and get away first.

Honestly, she had been thinking about  _it_ the entire time since she fled from the factory, during the journey to the headquarters, the time back home, the moments through her dinner and even while she bathed.  _It_ had always been on her mind, but only in this quiet space where she was sure no one but the silence could be the only witness, she dared to say it aloud:

"I wonder how he is…" Aoko bit her lower lip. "And if he's okay…"

There.  _Finally._  She had said it and got it off her chest, but it didn't seem to make her feel any better.

_Nothing_  was better.

Aoko's hand twitched, reminding her of the _thing_  that tied her connection with Kid. She rolled herself to the end of her bed and pulled out the drawer of her bedside table, where she securely kept her flip phone inside everyday.

Although she couldn't find an answer, an idea did come to mind.

_Just for the thrill._

She flipped the phone open, created a new message, and began typing:

_'I hope you're okay.'_

And pressed  _send_.

As she laid back on her bed, eyes bored and staring at the phone screen, she was expecting the failed text message coming in by the next heartbeat. But when one second passed, two second passed… and a full good two minutes had passed, Aoko straightened herself up, eyes growing wider and wider as the phone was still silent in her hand.

_Where is the error message?_

Before she flung herself up from her bed in anxiety, the phone vibrated in her grip, shocking yet sending relief to her at the same time. Ah. There it was. It must be because it was an old phone and the error message arrived late-

Aoko's smile faded as fast as it came when she spotted the sender of the text.

It wasn't the expected failed message.

It was a text message from Kid.

Aoko shrieked and flung the phone away, but it bounced off her pillow and rolled back to her side, which made her shriek again as she jumped up to her feet and ran to her desk. She took a whole minute to calm herself down, but after she took a glimpse at the THING on her bed, her heart began beating like a galloping horse running for its dear life.

Ok. OK. Aoko heaved out a breath. Maybe—just maybe—Kid didn't receive anything at all. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he sent her a text  _now_ , and maybe it was something unrelated to her  _I hope you're okay_  text because…  _because_ it just got to be. If not, Aoko might have to forsake her beloved house, great job, nice car and the two favours he still owed her and move to another country, never seeing him again-

That last thought, strangely, was paired with a twist in her gut.

Right on the cue, the flip phone vibrated again.

Aoko whipped her neck so fast it nearly snapped.

Yes. YES. Maybe  _now_ , the error message finally came in. Ah ha. All that anxiety for nothing. That sinking feeling in her stomach was gone, replaced with a mix relief and excitement that made her legs skip over to her bed. She flipped the phone open with more courage she expected and checked her inbox.

The smile on her face didn't last long.

She couldn't find any error message anywhere. Instead, what she found were two, unread messages from the one and only Kaitou Kid.

Aoko's loud shriek had already died in her throat, just like the soul in her body too.

This was just as bad as the moment before opening her email to her university application results. No. It was just  _as bad_  as receiving a reply after confessing her feelings to her non-existent first love. That seemed like the most ridiculous reference, but the most relatable one.

Almost.

Better to just get it over and done with.

After a few deep breathing exercises, Aoko braced herself and opened the message.

_'Thanks for the concern lol I'm okay. i'm not dead yet.'_

She barely managed to keep her cool, but still was able to open the next message without bursting a blood vessel.

_'In case u r wondering, I've lifted the text ban. Should have told u about it but I guess in life u got to learn things the hard way lmao. K. nite.'_

"Ugh, this-!" Aoko growled. She clutched the phone so tight her knuckles turned white, and was tempted to throw the flip phone out of the window too. But that burst of energy vanished in an instant when she remembered how this was the only way for her to contact Kid (And speaking of which, the mere thought of seeing him again caused her insides to heat up; It was between the feeling of rage and embarrassment, but the latter might take up a greater percentage).

"This  _idiot._ " Was the only thing she managed to say.

But… at least now she got her answer. The best answer, in fact.

And that was what mattered the most.

Aoko glanced down at the phone again.

Manipulations, deceptions, or the art of distractions… whatever those skills were used for, be it the good or bad, Aoko might not play it as well as Kid. But after he made her go through this painful ordeal of worry, stupid embarrassment and all sorts of other emotions she never knew she had it in her until Kid existed in her life, the least Aoko could do now was to win the game of having the last word in

She replied:

_'You're an idiot.'_

And  _send_.

With that done, Aoko stuffed the flip phone under the pillow and switched off her bedside lamp. The room fell into darkness, and she closed her eyes, trying to relax her mind and think of nothing to sleep.

But as the time passed, nothing became anticipation, and anticipation became expectations; to hear a buzz and her pillow to vibrate under her head. That moment never came, though, so for the rest of the night, she continued to keep her eyes shut until she eventually slept for real (Because if she opened them, she'd be admitting to the darkness that she had been waiting all these while).

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's reply  
  
**

Kaito was experienced enough—thanks to Snake and his men and their stalking game—to strategically lure the owner and his underlings to run around the factory three times before shaking them off when he took off his disguise and blended in with the workers inside. It was chaos everywhere because he reactivated the fire alarm again, but while he was with the crowd, he did try his best to spot any girl he could find with bright blue eyes and wild brown hair.

He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disappointed to not find her anywhere.

But after he escaped out of the factory and ran to the bushes just a distance away, he knew what he felt was definitely relief when he only found his clothes in the hiding spot.

_Good. She must have gotten out safely._

Gathering his clothes, Kaito quickly changed out of the uniform. This was a hotspot for many criminal activities and transaction, so it wouldn't do good if Snake or anyone related to him were to find him here, especially after he had ditched his disguise and his face was exposed in plain sight.

Afterwards, he went home.

.o.

When Kaito wasn't busy plotting to steal, doing the stealing, returning favours or cleaning his beautiful cars, he would be spending his time in his secret room fixing his tools or making new ones. If it wasn't for those  _interesting_ meetings and  _thrilling_  moments, his life was actually pretty routine in general.

He was sitting on a high stool by his work table and staring into blank space while twirling with the card gun in his hand. The radio he had been listening to for the past fifteen minutes had moved on to a short commercial break and started talking about a shampoo advertisement, so Kaito tuned it down, having heard enough news about the busted factory and the possible trials the owner was going to face anyway.

All seemed well, like what Aoko had hoped.

The corner of his lips tugged at the thought.

_Now_ , back to what was  _supposed_  to be his  _routine_. Kaito straightened, placing his gun aside and picked his other tools that needed work.

There was so much configurations that could be done for his card gun; making its compartments smaller or changing the grip to a better one, but even after all these years, he never once did any changes to it. He couldn't, in fact, when it contained his first memory of inventing something under his father's guidance.

If he changed anything, wouldn't the memory be gone too?

Not just for the card gun, it was the same for his other magic inventions. Some were created when his dad was still alive. Some were created using his dad's old props. Some were created because he was inspired by his dad's past performances. Every magic inventions Kaito done were all related to his dad.

Besides Kaito and his mother, those memories were the only thing his dad left behind, and he could never, ever change them—

Kaito's phone on his work table suddenly buzzed, surprising him out of his trance. It was a good distraction (Kaito got to admit), but he frowned, wondering what notification it was.

He unlocked his phone.

One new message.

_'I hope you're okay.' - phone #37 (Nakamori. A)_

Kaito blinked, and then flung himself up from his stool.

"W-What?" He blurted out and read the message a couple more times (twelve, to be exact), and started to walk around the room.

_Crap._ Kaito groaned and rubbed a hand over his neck. He hadn't told Aoko about lifting the text ban, which he did after their meeting at the cinema. Ever since Snake voiced out his opinion about his business, he felt uneasy about his contacts with Aoko. And he thought, if, just if, that Snake ever found her, and harm her (god forbids), he wouldn't be able to know just by her pressing the number one keypad for six seconds.

But everything just slipped out of his mind when they met this morning, and she was looking so pumped up about her new case and he was busy being intrigued by her enthusiasm... Whatever the reason was, it was a fact that he'd forgotten to tell her.

_Now what?_  Kaito sighed. He continued to wander around in circles, until he absently walked towards the hidden wall, flipped it, stepped into his bedroom and slumped onto the corner of his bed, still looking at his phone helplessly.

He tried to process the message again and made a checklist in his head.

One, Aoko was concerned about him.

Two, Aoko didn't know she could send texts now.

Three, her concern was not intended for him to know

_Shit._

Kaito tapped his leg against the bed, giving himself only five seconds to decide between sending a fake text message or admitting the truth.

Then, finally having the answer in mind, Kaito crafted a reply:

_'Hi. i'm fine. No worries.'_

Deleted.

_'Awww, i can't believe u actually cared for me!'_

No.

_'Wow thanks for the concern lol i'm okay i'm not dead yet.'_

Kaito cringed at the text.

Still… passable.

He pressed  _send_.

Right. Okay. Time for the quick explanation.

He cracked his neck and created another new message:

_'In case u r wondering, yes, I've lifted the text ban, and yes, I should have told u about it, but I didn't expect u to text me at all. I guess this is for the better because I get to kno that u're actually concerned 0ver me? I'm actually quite(…)'_

Kaito groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was he so fixated at the fact that she was concerned for him? And this almost looked like he had ripped off a page from his diary. What was with all these unnecessary explanations and emotional weight to it? Sighing, he deleted the whole chunk of words and typed again.

_'In case u r wondering, I've lifted the text ban. Should have told u about it but I guess in life u got to learn things the hard way lmao. K. nite.'_

Kaito nodded. Now it sounded much better. And more like him—The Kaitou Kid.

Pressing  _send_ , Kaito hastily chucked the phone under his pillow and laid his head over it, blocking it out from his vision.

He had disarmed bombs and even created many of them, but why was his heart still thumping so fast just because he sent out two text messages? He kicked against his sheet and sighed, again, for the thousand time that night.

Sleep. Yes. He must be tired. A quick nap would be good before fixing his tools again.

Kaito closed his eyes.

One minute passed, three minutes passed… the anticipation was rousing him, unable to let his brain to rest. He tried to sleep again, but failed, tried again, but failed, until he sat up on his bed and decided to solve the problem than trying something he knew was futile.

He reached out for the phone under his pillow and lit up the screen—

On the cue, his phone buzzed in his hand.

Kaito held his breath.

He opened the new message.

_'You're an idiot.' - phone #37 (Nakamori. A)_

Besides his infamous name Kaitou Kid, Kaito had been called many other different things. Asshole. Crazy. Dipstick… He had heard them all, and could even compile them into a dictionary and sell them for profits, but for some strange reason, he was fascinated with the word  _idiot_.

Maybe because he might really be one; who the hell actually smiles after getting insulted?

Cheeks still aching from the grin, Kaito slumped back on his bed (the phone loose in his hand), and finally fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

 

**Aoko's counter offer**

 

Aoko didn't know much about thieving and breaking into people's property, but at least she was sure a thief wouldn't be dumb to steal the same thing twice, unless there was a damn, good reason behind it.

Likewise, she didn't know much about disguises and how to create them to as perfect as any normal human's skin, but at least she was sure a master of disguise wouldn't use the same disguise twice, unless there was a damn, good reason behind it.

But Kaitou Kid did both of them.

Just last week (a few days after the drug factory owner was sentenced to jail), Kid stolen the two Van Gogh paintings that he returned before (and it also happened to be a few days after the exhibition too). The media boomed thanks to the outrage of the owner and his proclamation that he would find and obliterate the thief, but of course, that claim was as empty as air.

Having two favours left, Aoko also had the opportunities to ask why Kid did what he did. She wasn't that particular to why he stolen them in the first and second place, but it wasn't hard to piece the logic together to figure out why he returned them in between. And knowing the possibilities of those answers, she became a little scared to ask (She wasn't sure if she could take that truth without suffering from the overwhelming embarrassments or emotions that only Kid could make her feel).

So, Aoko decided to pretend she never saw that news and moved on. Besides, she had other questions in mind anyway—

Aoko glanced towards Kid by her side.

—Like how he was using the same disguise as the one in the restaurant when they met.

Kid tapped his fingers against the bar counter. "So you're saying Ito Hisao was here three days ago?"

The young owner of the club, Dai, scrunched up his nose and flicked his cigarette ashes to the floor. "Yeah, that's exactly what I said."

"That's weird. People said he was in Shanghai." Kid continued.

"Who?"

"A source of mine."

"So what? What does this got to do with you?"

"Don't you think everything about this is contradictory?" Kid wondered aloud, hand stroking his chin. "You know? About that recent murder case?"

Dai casted him a pointed look. "Do you have the time to care for that? Shouldn't you be busy about-"

"Yeah yeah I know." Kid quickly waved a hand. "But this is a murder case. A big thing."

"That's unlike you, Kid." Dai quirked an eyebrow. "You never gave a shit for the other hundred murders cases that happened before."

"Give me a break and let me be me."

"Let you be you? More like what's gotten into you lately." Dai scorned. He leaned forward and pointed his cigarette at Aoko. "You're never once keen in my girls too, and now you brought one with you?"

Aoko hastily glanced down to the counter, nervously watching the condensation on Kid's beer glass trickling down to the bottom.

Her role—as demanded by Kid because she insisted to follow him this time rather than sitting out and letting him do the job—was basically a prostitute he picked up on the street. She thought his outrageous request was to change her mind, so she forced herself and agreed to it, to prove that she would do what it takes to finish her job.

Dressed in a pair of black high heels, torn-up stockings and the shortest, spaghetti-strap black dress Aoko ever worn (which Kid brought her to a thrift shop in Kabukicho to buy), they began their bar-hopping the entire night, digging out the flaws in Ito Hisao's alibi statement. There were times when the people or club owners were too busy to give Aoko a glance, but when they noticed her, like how Dai did when they first entered his club, Kid would make sure to let them know she was taken;

So that no one was allowed to touch her.

And surprisingly, everyone showed Kid that respect he indirectly asked for.

In Kid's fashion of showing how she was  _taken_ , Aoko sat on his lap as he conversed with Dai like everything was perfectly normal. She was sort of used to it, since out of ten clubs they'd been, this was the fourth time she did. But unlike the last club, she wasn't able to relax well and put most of her weight on Kid's leg (not like he wasn't able to take it).

This club, by far, was Aoko's most uncomfortable place.

Judging from the many things here; like the very dim lights and weirdly soft music, Aoko guessed this club was meant more for business transactions rather than partying. The  _customers_  all wore a heavier and serious expression, often with suitcases in their hands and plenty of bodyguards by their side. The girls were in their equally skimpy clothes, but they were often asked to go out of the room during certain occasions. Probably during the sensitive information of the trade.

Could it be about drugs? Guns? Or bombs? Aoko wondered how many lives could be saved if she stopped any one of the transactions in the rooms.

Kid leaned against the bar counter, covering some parts of Aoko from Dai's view. "You never said we couldn't bring in our own girls before."

"You're right. I never. Because I'm confident that no one can beat my club's standards. Until this one." Dai pressed his cigarette butt into the table. "Kid. How much do you offer?"

"No deal."

Aoko dared herself to glance up, just to check if the strong wariness she heard in Kid's tone was her imagination.

The cold look in his blue eyes told her it wasn't.

"Of course," Dai smirked and stood up from his seat. "Seeing such a jewel, even Kaitou Kid wouldn't sell."

"C'mon Dai," Kid said, his voice suddenly chirpy and upbeat. "Are you offended?"

"Never by you. But you said you only have one question, and I've answered it. I'm done."

Dai didn't wait for Kid's attempt to stall time and left.

After Kid watched Dai go, he sighed and turned back to the counter to sip onto his beer. "This is all we've got."

"It's already good enough anyway." Aoko said (and she would convince herself later that she wasn't comforting him but was stating it as a matter of factly). "We have plenty of evidences to prove that we're on the right track and Ito Hisao is still the most suspicious guy for this case."

"If you're satisfied with the result, then it's fine by me."

Aoko pursed her lips and stared at the side of Kid's face as he took another sip of his beer.

_Now that it's the end... To thank him or not...?_

Kid suddenly turned towards Aoko in the midst of her contemplation, catching her off guard.

"What?" She leaned back and managed to say without a stutter.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You've been staring a lot. Especially when I'm wearing this face."

"No I didn't."

Kid smirked. "Yes you did."

"Ok. I got to admit I'm puzzled about some things." Aoko bit her lips, forcing herself to continue what she started. "Isn't this... the same disguise as the one in the restaurant?"

"And what about it?"

"Why would you wear the same disguise?"  _What's more when it looked exactly the same; The black messy hair, the eyes..._ Aoko pondered.  _No imperfections at all._

Kid stroked his chin with a hint of a smile on his lips (and she believed he was teasingly trying to prolong whatever suspense was in the air). "What if..." He began slowly. "What if I tell you this is my real face?"

Aoko gaped. "Wh-What? This is your real face?"

"Yeah."

"Are you serious?" She was still struggling for a moment to speak, unable to grasp the reality.

"Can't believe I'm so handsome?"

Aoko opened her mouth. She would rather die than saying  _Yes_ , but her throat couldn't make out the word  _No_  either. Ended up, the silence was dragged for one second too long, and she quickly covered her mistake with a loud cough.

"I can't... believe you'll ever reveal your face to me."  _And how I even thought it fitted you the best._

"If I'm not using my face, how am I supposed to ask for information?" Kid shook his head at her. "They only talked to me because they know I'm Kaitou Kid. Not someone wearing a face of a random office worker from XYZ company."

"But still-"

"Hey, hey." Kid raised a hand. "You don't have to feel conflicted because you think you're special or something. Shinichi knows my face too."

Aoko blinked. "Sh-Shinichi?"

"Yes."

"So... that's how the favours came about? Because he saw your face and you begged him not to send you to jail?"

Kid gritted his teeth. "No."

"Huh. Sounds fake."

He glared at her sideways. "It's  _not_."

"Fine. Then I supposed it's my responsibility now."

Kid's frown disappeared and a smile spread across his face like spilt honey, sweet and slow (and a little mesmerising to watch). "Oh? You're going to send me to jail? Just because you know my face?"

"Yes." She bared her teeth, not liking the mockery in his voice.

"Can't wait for that day."

"It'll be soon. After you repay all your favours."

He chuckled. "Right, right."

Then, at the same time when Kid reached out for his beer, Aoko wanted to play with the condensation on the glass, just because. Their fingers brushed against each other, and like a shock of electricity, Aoko retracted her hand faster than Kid did. She looked at him, which he looked back at her, and they looked and looked and looked at each other for an unnecessarily long moment before Aoko realized, to her absolute terror, that she was still sitting on Kid's lap and that their body and face was barely apart-

Aoko shifted on his leg, trying to get up. "Um, okay, anyway, I guess we can call it a day."

"Uh yeah." Kid agreed, finally looked away while rubbing the back of his neck, until he saw something behind Aoko's shoulder and widened his eyes.

"Shit." He hissed, his tone so icy that it made Aoko flinch. He grabbed her arm, sending her to another level of surprise as she slumped back onto his lap. She yelped.

"What?"

"Stay still for a minute more and don't turn around-"

It was too late. Aoko already turned her head.

And it wasn't something she expected.

There, just by the entrance, was a man in a trench coat and hat. He easily looked like any drug dealer on the street, but Aoko knew him more than that, after seeing his signature moustache and angry eyes that could set the alcohol around them to flame.

Snake—his only known alias—was one of the most notorious leader of an infamous triad. She heard many things about him, be it from the night news, the mouth of her few terrified clients, officials, and even part of Shinichi's rare complaints. But here he was, standing in the flesh and out in the open when all she had seen of him were blurred images from the other side of her electronics.

Kid pulled her shoulder to turn back, but it was too late,  _again_.

Snake was looking at their direction.

And for a moment, Aoko thought their eyes met.

She gasped, while trying to ignore the shiver that went down her spine. "Isn't that Snake?"

Kid sighed. "Oh  _great_. He saw us."

"You know him?"

"When he comes over, act like you're mute."

"How do you know him?"

"Stop talking."

"I asked how do you-"

"If you say another word, I'm going to kiss you."

The amount of certainty laced in his voice was so frightening that Aoko instantly shut up.

"Good. Keep that warning in mind." Kid said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his chest. She wanted to ask what the hell he was up to, but she feared for her lips.

And Snake was already beside them too.

"I see that you're..." Snake narrowed his eyes. "Busy."

Kid smiled, but there was something strange in the tug of his lips. "Yes." He said.

"Where's she from?"

"What?"

"Who's her pimp?"

Aoko choked, and for a moment she thought Kid was going to pull her in for a kiss for breaking the rule, but he didn't; He was too busy staring at Snake, almost as if he forgotten all about her. The only proof to know it wasn't the case was his grip over her waist. Strong and firm.

Almost protective.

"There's no pimp. She was on the road."

"Hm." Snake gave Aoko a last brief look before he returned to stare down at Kid. "Be careful of what you pick up. I don't want you dying from some disease before I kill you."

Aoko managed to force down the snarl from escaping her lips.

"K." Kid said and nudged Aoko off his lap. He stood up too, his height almost the same as Snake's. "If there's nothing else, we're leaving."

Snake didn't say anything as Kid dragged Aoko out of the club by the arm.

They travelled by Aoko's car, but no one would suspect a thing since it was technically Kid's car too; blue baby. He had parked it at the far end of the car park, and during their entire walk to the lot, his grip was still the same and strong around her arm.

"Kid-"

"We'll talk in the car." Was his response.

She wanted to tell him he was going to leave a bruise on her skin if he continued holding her like that, but sensing the unusual tension in Kid's voice, Aoko decided against it. Getting out of here seemed more like his priority now.

They got into the car (Kid did glance around the empty parking lot a couple of times before he did), and started the engine. His calm facade really could have tricked Aoko to think that everything was alright, but she could tell, deep in her gut, that it wasn't. Nothing could be alright after coming in contact with Snake too, of course.

Kid drove out.

"Where are we going?" Aoko asked, breaking the silence.

"I'll send you home."

"I want to go back to the office for a while."

"Ok." Kid said.

Silence fell again, which was strange, because lately meeting with Kid, there was rarely any silence between them. He would always say something stupid and she would always retort back. And then the cycles would repeat forever. Unless they were talking about the serious stuff, their moments were usually filled with squabbles, Kid's chuckles and Aoko's snarl.

Now there was nothing, except for Kid's solemn face and Aoko's anxiety stirring in her stomach. She tried to gather the courage in her to speak, but something in her faltered and she gave up, turning to stare at the lights and building passing them by instead-

" _Oh_ , fantastic." Kid suddenly said, in a way that Aoko knew it was definitely not fantastic. He was looking at the rear mirror.

"What?" Aoko was about to turn her head, but Kid was faster this time. He pushed her face so she was forced to look at the front again.

"Seriously, I can't imagine how you became a private investigator with your level of discreetness."

"Excuse me?" Aoko scowled. She was prepared for a full rant of her hard work but went against the idea in her head because that was just going to waste her breath. So,  _discreetly_ , she looked into the wing mirror instead.

A suspicious-looking black car was behind them.

Aoko frowned. "Who are they?"

There was a pause before Kid spoke. "Snake's men."

_Now_ , this was the  _fantastic_  opportunity for Aoko to get the ball rolling when she didn't even dare to touch it a while ago. "Speaking of which, you didn't answer my questions. How do you know Snake? What exactly is your relationship with him?" Aoko asked, her eyes surveying him with increased scrutiny. "Why would he send his people to follow us?"

Again, Kid paused. "Got to keep his boys busy or he'll just be paying them to stand around like idiots."

"That's stupid."

"Yes. I know."

"I'm referring to your lie. It's stupid. Don't take me for a three year old."

Kid looked briefly annoyed. When he opened his mouth next, Aoko was expecting him to come up with another stupid remark because he was so good at giving them, but he swallowed whatever he had in his throat and said, instead, with a resigned tone. "The reason is none of your business."

"It is if I'm working with you. You still owe me a favour."

"Or you can write it off if you're scared of him." He muttered under his breath, but Aoko heard it loud and clear.

"I'm not scared of Snake." Aoko cleared her throat, hoping that would make her sound as confident as she wished to be. "I just don't want to have any connection with him. Including people who works with him."

"Because?"

"Because he's bad."

" _Bad_." Kid let out a laugh. "Aren't I too?"

"You are. But you're not like him."

"Oh? So there are differences between bad people?"

"Yes. I wouldn't put someone who steals with someone who murders." Aoko tugged onto her seatbelt, suddenly unsure where this conversation was going, but she continued. "Unlike Snake, you don't kidnap people, you don't set buildings on fire, and you don't kill anyone. "

"How do you know if I haven't done those things you said?"

Aoko stared at the side of his face. He didn't even bat a single eyelid. "Then did you?" She asked quietly.

Kid tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "What do you think?"

As much as it sounded like a joke, it never occur to Aoko that Kid could have self-esteem issues. But there was nothing else Aoko could think of to fit the thought of why he sounded as if he was particularly concern about what she thought of him. Did she ever matter anyway? Wasn't she just an annoying woman he owed some favours to?

"If I think you did, would I agree to sit in the car with you?" She answered, her tone levelled.

"I don't know. Maybe you've changed your mind during the journey or something."

"It takes a lot to change my mind." Aoko flicked a gaze towards him. "But what I know now is that you're trying to change the subject.

Kid smirked. "Well, it's worth a try."

"And you failed." Aoko spat. "So, answer my question: What's your relationship with Snake?"

"I don't have a relationship with him." Kid said, while adding an unnecessary wink. "For the record, I'm straight."

Aoko pinched his arm.

"Hey, I'm driving!"

She raised her hand again, slowly.

"Don't." Kid said warningly.

"Tell me." Aoko raised both of her hands.

"No."

"Yes."

"Fine, fine." He squirmed in his seat, his eyes barely focused on the road. "There's once when I'd stolen something Snake was after and he was pissed. So sometimes he'll send his underlings to stalk me, intentionally reminding me not to step on his foot again."

Aoko put down her hand and narrowed her eyes, trying to detect the lie from his tone or story, which she couldn't for either. Judging from Kid's character, what he said might not be the whole truth, but at least, this sounded much more believable that the first crappy excuse he made up. She wondered if she should push further for a more detailed answer, but she decided against it.

This was already more than enough of a comfort that he was just a skilful, uncatchable thief. Not a kidnapper. Not an arsonist. Not a murderer.

Not the worst of mankind.

Aoko sank back in her seat. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I believe you."

Kid returned his gaze to the road in silence.

A bright light flashed past her car window and Aoko looked at the wing mirror. If it wasn't her imagination, the car seemed closer to Kid's now.

"Why aren't you shaking them off?" She remarked.

"They'll get suspicious of me if I try."

Aoko sighed. "I'm not interested to be involved in this."

"This is what you've signed up for." Kid drawled. "You want favours from a criminal? You'll have to bear the insurance and risks."

Of course she knew that, but whatever fear or worry of the risks couldn't be to the golden opportunity to the free access of Kid's useful resources, connection and expertise. Deciding to ignore him since she had no better idea on what to say, Aoko sighed. "Whatever. Just send me to my office."

"No. Change of plans." Kid said. "It's too dangerous."

"I don't see how being in the car with you is any safer."

"Trust me. Right now, you're in the safest spot in the world."

"Then what now?" Aoko scowled. "You can't be driving around aimlessly the entire night!"

"We're not. We're going to the motel instead."

Aoko choked and coughed several times. After a good ten seconds, Kid was  _kind_  enough to ask if she was okay, and if she needed any form of CPR because he would be glad to give her one if she needed it.

She shot him a dark look. "Tell me it's a joke before I pinch you again."

"It's not a joke. It  _is_  my plan."

"Care to explain?"

And so he did.

Indeed, after hearing Kid out, Aoko realized going to a motel was a good idea because, first, she wouldn't have to spend another minute with Kid in the car, second, she wouldn't expose the privacy of her office's location to Snake's men, and third, that would keep up with their fake  _relationship_  Kid claimed they had in the club. She originally thought the second reason was more important than the rest, but after having to endure another three minutes of Kid forcing her to admit he was brilliant and amazing for thinking up this plan, she only had the first reason in mind.

Five minutes later, Kid drove it into a shabby-looking motel's carpark. The car behind them followed, and it was so obvious that Aoko was tempted to knock on their car window and teach them some good stalking tactics (even if her own skills weren't hundred percent perfect).

Kid parked the car in a random lot and shut off the engine.

"Hey."

"What?"

"At least pretend you're excited about this." Kid said before getting off the car.

Aoko blinked when he slammed the door close. Excited? What kind of  _excitement_? Exaggerating giggles? Seductive glances? She already had enough for wearing such an outrageous attire the entire night, and now she had to do the act of  _excitement_? Shaking her head, Aoko hastily unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the car door, but Kid beat her to it and opened it for her.

"Ready?" Kid asked.

"Very." Aoko smiled bitterly.

She was totally  _not_  ready for exaggerating giggles nor seductive glances, but Kid helped her a little with the convincing, by putting an arm around her shoulder and whispered to her to put hers around his waist after she got out of the car.

The act worked, Aoko guessed, but it was still ridiculous nonetheless.

(And ridiculously, he still smelt great even after such a long night out)

They walked into the motel with quick but in-sync steps.

"Two rooms, please." Kid said the moment they reached the small reception counter.

"Sorry." The staff said, though she didn't sound as apologetic as she picked a dirt under her nail. "We only have one room left. Today's a hot night."

_Hot night?_  Aoko flushed. On the other hand, Kid wasn't reacting much.

"How many beds for the room?" He asked.

The staff stared at him, as if he just asked if earth was round. "One."

"We'll take it."

They silently departed to the lift after taking the key because there were eyes all over in the lobby. They silently stood in the lift, arms still closed around each other, because they was a security camera hanging above. They silently walked down the corridor, the key dangling in Kid's hand, because the walls have ears.

Only after they entered their room, closed their door, and walked inside to find the tiny small bed that the counter staff said, then did Aoko's inner turmoil made it out.

"Why did you agree to the ONE bed?" Aoko growled.

Kid tossed his jacket onto the bed and trudged towards curtains. "Do we have a choice?" He drawled.

Aoko rubbed her temple, feeling a headache coming in. "We do. We could have went to another motel and find one with two beds available. OR we could just sit around at the lobby-"

"Not when they are watching." He muttered by the window.

Aoko frowned. "Wait. They are still here?" She approached the curtains too.

Kid grabbed her wrist. "Geez. Discreet, girl.  _Discreet._ " He rolled his eyes. "You need a lesson or two on it, really."

"I know what I'm doing." Aoko snarled and pulled away from his grasp. She  _discreetly_  peeked through the gap and out of the window.

At the bottom of the building—a few lots away from blue baby—was the same black car. The headlights were off, but from here, Aoko could make out movements in the car.

She clicked her tongue in disbelief. "Why are they still here?"

Kid shrugged.

Aoko narrowed her eyes at him. "What exactly have you stolen to make Snake run after your tail so closely? I thought they'd at least be gone by now."

He shrugged again. "I guess they are persistent and dedicated to their job."

"So, how long do you  _think_  they will be dedicated to their job?"

"I don't know. But we might as well just spend the night here. The room is already paid anyway."

"There's only one bed." Aoko reminded.

"I know. But we can split."

"Split?"

"Yes. Aren't I a genius?" Kid slumped onto the right side of the bed and tugged onto the blanket. "Last one in bed should switch off the lights."

Forget about peeing or even brushing her teeth; That sentence had sent every nerve in Aoko's body to panic. She dived right into the bed and wrapped the blanket over her body, covering every inch of her skin that had enough of being exposed tonight.

"You can switch it off if you want." She spat.

Kid stared at her. "Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark."

Aoko managed to keep her wince under her breath. Kid wasn't right, but he wasn't entirely wrong either. Monsters and magic were things that only existed in fairytales and fiction, but she believed they wouldn't be created without some basis of it. Like Santa Claus and Witches in the woods, Aoko thought there were monsters who sleep under beds too.

That was why she kept her bedside table lamp on until she was completely in bed. But hey, that wasn't something she needed Kid to know.

"I'm not scared." She cleared her throat. "I'm just too comfortable here."

Aoko wasn't looking at him, but she could imagine Kid rolling his eyes. He grabbed his jacket from the corner of the bed and pulled out a bunch of receipts from the pocket. She glanced at him, curious, as she watched him crushed them into a tight paper ball.

With a quick aim, he flicked his craft to the switch, and the moment he slumped back on the bed and dumped his jacket on the floor, the lights went out.

Aoko blinked in the darkness. "Wow-"

"Goodnight."

Silence ensued.

"..."

"..."

Slowly turning away from the ceilings, Aoko glimpsed at the figure beside her. After everything, she still hadn't forgotten the thanks that was still dangling at the tip of her tougue, but what could she do? She had definitely missed the opportunity to say it.

Coincidences and missed opportunities... these were all Aoko's daily necessities in life-

"You know," Kid spoke, his whispers suddenly filling the room like a bunch of floating petals and clouds (How could a voice possibly  _feel so_ soft?) "I can see that you're doing a lot of staring today, especially after knowing that this is my real face."

Aoko's heart squeezed in terror, but she swallowed the squeak from coming out and quickly replied. "Ho-How do you see if your eyes are closed?"

His lips twitched into a smirk, his eyes were still shut. "And how do you know I'm closing my eyes?"

_Crap._ "You made me look at it." Aoko spat before shifting her position to face the wall on her side, the bed squeaked under her as she did.

"Hm." She heard him say, and then a second later, the bed squeaked again; this time it was Kid who was shifting. Aoko glanced over her shoulder, curious to what he was doing.

Kid was now lying on his side, his full face and two bright, blue eyes looking at her.

"How's this? Is this a better angle for you to stare?"

Aoko flushed. "No."

"Aw." Kid smirk grew bigger. "Are you blushing?"

"I'm not." Aoko muttered, hoping that he couldn't see  _and_  hear her voice to tell anything from it. But even if he did, Aoko wouldn't know; his one and only annoying response was the smile that remained plastered on his stupid face. And what added on to her annoyance was that he was still in the same position, showing no signs to move.

Aoko frowned. "Can you turn away?"

"Why?"

"I don't like that you're staring at my back."

"Hmm, but I'm just too comfortable here."

_He's totally quoting what I've said just now._

Taking in a deep breath, Aoko turned, her body now facing his too. She then copied that same, idiotic smile he had on his face. "Fine. Let's stare at each other to death then."

"Fine."

" _Fine._ "

Two minutes passed and their staring contest didn't last long, though; Aoko lost. But she wasn't going to start the topic of that senseless competition. Thanking him had been a missed opportunity, and it still was, but she had many other things she wanted to say to him on mind. Something that had been nudging her for quite a while. To be exact, it might have started since the day they met at the cinema and Kid passed her the thumb drive to the case she almost couldn't fulfil.

"Why are you like this?" Aoko spoke.

Kid raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"So… pretending."

He raised his eyebrow further. "Because I put on disguises?"

"No." Aoko said, while being fully aware that she was staring right at his true face and not his disguise. The irony. "Let me phrase my question: Why do you pretend to be a bad guy?"

Kid blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"You're doing good things."

"…You meant helping you in those cases that you're involved in? Hey. Remember? I'm just returning back the favours. There's nothing more to it."

"You could have rejected me."

"Why would I if I can hurry up and clear the debt?"

Aoko twitched her nose. Gut feeling or not, Kid was replying her questions at a rapid speed of light, almost as though he had the script in his hand all the time. "Don't you have your own principles?"

"You sounded so noble when saying it. What's yours?"

She puffed out her chest. "I will only do the right thing."

"So you're saying that good people can only do right things while bad people can only do wrong things?" Kid scorned.

"Isn't that so?"

"The world isn't just black and white, you know. There's grey. There's pink. And there's orange. And also-"

"Are you saying you're the grey one?"

"I'm just who I am."

That answered sounded lacking, but Aoko continued. "Then,  _whoever_ you are,  _whatever_ colour you want to be, how about considering working with me?"

Kid blinked.

Somewhere along the corridor outside their room came a loud giggle, muffled by their walls and door.

Then it grew quiet still again.

Except for the soft hum from the air condition.

"What…?" Kid said, breaking the momentum with his harsh whisper.

Aoko expected his first reaction was to laugh at her, not sounding so shock and surprised like he was just told that pigs could fly. Then again, the possibility of her saying what she said had been close to a zero afterall, at least in Kid's eyes.

He thought she didn't trust him.

"Well," Aoko hesitated. She shifted her legs closer to her body, toes curling in nervously. "The pay would never be amounted to anything that you'd stolen, but it's… still negotiable."

_Now_ , then Kid laughed, the bed vibrated under his movements (It might be Aoko's imagination as the cold room actually turned warmer because of the echos of his chuckles). "That was originally my offer, no?"

Aoko widened her eyes, remembering the first note Kid left in her mailbox with the keys to baby blue. "This is… my counter offer." She finally found the sense to reply.

His laughter had long died away. "Are you serious?"

"I'm serious."

There was a long pause coming from Kid's side, until Aoko realised he was actually staring intently at her the entire time.

She squirmed under his gaze.

He looked away.

"I'll have to think about it." Was all he said as he turned to the other side of the bed.

She stared at his back, mouth gaping open until her voice finally came out. "Um, okay. I'm just, well, randomly asking. You don't have to-"

"I know." He said into the empty space. "But I'll still think about it. K. Goodnight."

_Definitely goodnight._

Aoko turned away too, mentally chiding herself from making any more unnecessary movements or sounds. She felt her cheeks turning strangely hot. What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she feeling as though she had just confessed-

Wait, what?

_UGH._ Aoko groaned in her head.  _Saying all those things…_

She shut her eyes, forcing herself to sleep. And even if she couldn't, she didn't dare to open her eyes. Not now. Not at least daylight came. Not until when her words and his answer stopped echoing in her head

Like an ostrich, this was the only mechanism she knew how to do to hide away.

.o.

Aoko woke up to a lit room (the thin thickness of the curtains didn't help to cover the sunlight), and found herself hugging a pillow that must have belonged to Kid since hers was still intact under her head. Shock and embarrassment surged within her as she flung herself upright, thinking of the worse possible scenario for the reason of having the pillow in her arm, but a newfound wave of emotions flooded her when she turned and found the spot next to her on the bed empty with no signs of Kid anywhere.

(For a moment she wondered if it was disappointment, but she reasoned to herself that it couldn't be, and that it had to be relief)

Forcing herself out of the bed, Aoko checked the bathroom (not without shouting at the door three times and saying that she was going to come in). It was empty as well. She then checked the window to see if Snake's men were still there. They weren't anymore, but she found something else.

A note was stuck on the window, and she plucked it to read.

_'Good morning (or afternoon? I've already paid for the night, but if you overslept, the extra charges are your responsibilities)_

_As you can see, the coast is clear and you can go back to your white world of justice. Just a reminder that you shouldn't go back to any of the clubs we'd visited, at least not without me, even if it was for the purpose of whatever scandalous, stupid cases you take up. You don't belong there._

_Bye.'_

Scoffing, Aoko half-crushed the note, but on second thought, she peeled it open again, smoothing the paper creases as much as she could before stuffing it into her purse.

She might need something to remind her that everything wasn't a dream.

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's silence**

 

The room was silent, saved for the low buzz from the air con and the soft rhythm of Aoko's breath. It had a natural flow to it, rather than the unnatural breathing pattern she had before, which confirmed Kaito's guess that she had truly fell asleep while pretending to.

Looking away from the rise and fall of her chest under the cover (strange how _just that_  could reign his attention), Kaito turned towards the curtains. He couldn't see the car park from here, but he was too damn lazy to move right now. He checked his phone, finding it close to two in the morning.

_Ok._  He shoved his phone under his pillow and laid his head over again.  _Ten minutes and I'll go._

There was no way he could fall asleep in this unfamiliar environment, but he still closed his eyes anyway, his ears familiarising with the air-con buzz and Aoko's breaths as he felt himself relaxed.

_Just ten minutes._ Kaito repeated again in his head, and then a couple more times for warranty. That should be enough to set his body clock to work.

Ten minutes later, Kaito opened his eyes.

Or what he  _assumed_  was ten minutes.

He shifted his head around, finding the room a shade brighter than what he remembered seeing before he closed his eyes. He glanced to the gap from the curtains and inwardly groaned. There was some light outside, not too bright, but it must as least be dawn.

At least three hours much have passed.

Kaito closed his eyes again, unable to believe that he had  _fallen_  into a deep sleep faster and longer than all the sleeping pills he had taken, just by having the presence of a stupid buzzing sound and Aoko's breathing.

And that wasn't the end of his surprise.

Kaito moved, trying to reach for the phone under his pillow, but his arm was heavily weighed down, as if it was strapped to the bed. He blinked, and looked down to see why.

It was all Aoko's fault, again.

She was leaning against his left arm, face buried into his sleeve while her exposed arms were wrapped around his like a bolster. Her fingers were pressing into his skin, with almost an intention to left an imprint.

_Damn it._

"No…"

Kaito flinched, looking over to Aoko's face (and mouth) to check if he had imagined hearing it.

"Don't..." She whispered painfully again.

Like a lost kitten in a sea of crowd.

Behind her fringe and some strands of hair, he could see her brows were furrowed—as if frightened by something. Kaito frowned. What could she be dreaming of?

A nightmare?

That might be one mutual friend they had.

Kaito raised his other free arm, hand reaching for her head and patting her hair as he hummed. A soft tune. Everyone's familiar rhythm. One soft pat. Another soft pat-

Her grip loosened.

"Mom," she mumbled again. "Don't go…"

_Oh._

"It's... okay," Kaito whispered back. "I'm not going anywhere."

The words did better wonders than his touch; her face fell lax, breath became slower and softer… until he could tell she fell into a dreamless sleep again.

One soft pat. Another soft pat-

Ok.

He should really go.

(What a liar he was)

Slowly, Kaito moved his previously trapped arm, her fingertips bushing across the skin on his arm. He saw her hand twitched, and he quickly moved his pillow and placed it in her grasp.

She didn't move anymore.

Heaving a silent sigh, Kaito trudged across the room and towards the curtain. He took a peak outside. As expected, the black car was already gone.

But that wasn't enough to ease his tension. Kaito has wasted enough time here. He needed to get back to Snake before he started cooking up stupid thoughts and randomly decided to check up on Aoko, perhaps thinking he could use her as part of their future trade-offs or whatnots.

That would be the shit.

Kaito began searching for a pen and a notepad and found the set by a small table on Aoko's side of the bed.

There were so many things Kaito wanted to say, but he wasn't sure where to start: About their conversations in the car, her  _job_   _offer_  on the bed, her nightmare that made her scared; basically everything else that happened. It was quite a mess—on the surface and even in his head—but what he showed, while standing in the still darkness of the room, was his pokerface.

It was his only mechanism to deal with things he wasn't sure about.

But even if there were thousand things he wanted to say, there was only one thing that he was entitled and responsible to tell. He had put Aoko's path towards Snake, and the least he could do was to diverge her away again; It was his mistake, from setting up the firewood to putting the whole forest on fire instead when all she wanted was a little warmth.

After penning down his words, he tore the paper (which happened to be a sticky note), and pasted it on the glass window.

He glanced at Aoko's small figure on the bed (for two seconds longer than intended), picked up his jacket and headed out of the door.


	7. Chapter 7

 

**Aoko's number**

 

Since young, Aoko never liked the hospital.

The plain white walls, the cold stale air, the smell of medicines and the sound of crying people… at least that was what she experienced whenever she visited her then-dying mother in the hospital.

But after her mother died, she rarely been to the hospital, at least not for her own sake. And thinking back about it, the last time she'd been here was a very, very long time ago.

That was why Aoko was currently lost, wandering around a foreign floor because she board the wrong lift (she was so distracted scrolling through the photos she took of Keiko and her firstborn, even though she literally left their ward just two seconds after).

On a positive note, she found many things had changed in the hospital, in a good way. The walls were now decorated with posters and drawings by children and recovering patients, and maybe her sense of smell wasn't as strong compared to when she was young so she wasn't very bothered by it anymore.

And there was also the sound of…

Piano.

The tune sounded familiar,  _very_  familiar, but it was played too slowly for Aoko to piece it together and figure out what it was.

Just out of curiosity, she followed the song, and found her way towards the lounge area.

A girl, age probably no more than six, was clothed in a school uniform and sitting on the piano seat, legs dangling and barely reaching the ground. Her tiny hands were spread across the white keys as she carefully pressed them, almost afraid and unsure.

With a backlog of cases left in the office, Aoko should hurry off soon. But something compelled her to move forward, towards the little girl who looked more than just confused over the notes she was playing. There were traces of loneliness, and some bit of sadness.

For a moment, Aoko thought she saw herself there.

"Hello." Aoko said softly, careful to not startle the girl.

The girl whipped around in surprise before bouncing off her seat. "Hello!" She girl chirped. Now that Aoko was near enough, she saw the pink name tag on the child's school clothes: Yumiko.

"What are you doing?" Aoko asked, a good question to strike a conversation with children.

"This morning my teacher taught me how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but I'd forgotten how." Yumiko said before staring at the piano key wistfully.

Ah, so it was that song. Aoko glanced at the piano, and then at the dejected look on Yumiko's face.

There was still time.

"Do you… want me to play it for you?"

Yumiko looked at her in anticipation. "Really? You'll do that for me?"

Aoko nodded. "Yeah."

"Thank you!"

Cracking her knuckles, Aoko sat down on the seat while Yumiko stood beside her with hands clenched to her chest. She had some experience playing the piano when she occasionally helped Keiko and Sayaka for their chorus club, but that said, she hadn't touched it since high school graduation. She still remembered the chords, but she wasn't sure if her rusty performance would meet the expectations of the child.

Aoko began playing, adding a few more notes to the song for the fun. Knowing her skills, this was, of course, in no way a comparison to Beethoven or Mozart, but to the little girl and her small world filled with innocence and simplicity, it seemed like this was the best thing she ever heard. It made Aoko's heart melt a little, but at the same time it ached too as her mind drifted from the melody to more complex issues, like wondering why Yumiko was here in the hospital, and where were her parents? Were they sick? If they were, how sick were they?

"Are you going to play another song?" Yumiko asked after Aoko finished, breaking her line of thoughts.

"Sure, why not?" Aoko grinned, because this was a better response than any questions she was tempted to ask.

"Then…" Yumiko began shyly as she shuffled her foot on the ground. "May I sing along?"

"Of course."

Aoko played another children song, one that at least both her and Yumiko know. And then they moved on to the next one, and the next again. It was only in the midst of the fourth song then Aoko looked up from the piano and realized they had gathered a good amount of audiences, mixing from children to older patients, their family members and even the nurses were here, watching their performance with smiles plastered on their faces.

Except for one man.

The unexpected surprise caused Aoko to miss a note, but Yumiko's sweet voice covered that well. She quickly looked away from the crowd and focused on the song, until she finished, stood up, and the crowd cheered.

She used the chance to glance around the crowd again, right at the spot she saw that  _man_.

_What the hell._

It really wasn't a dream or a hallucination.

There, in the flesh, was Kaitou Kid.

Yumiko tugged onto Aoko's blouse, catching her attention. "Thank you for playing the piano for me." She beamed.

"No problem." Aoko managed a smile in return, but her heart didn't make it as genuine as she wished it could be. Distracted, Aoko looked up again.

She frowned.

Kid was gone.

_Where did he…?_

She didn't get to dwindle on that thought for long as people started approaching them, extending their thanks and appreciation about how she and Yumiko made their day brighter and so on. Aoko honestly didn't do much, and her original intention was to make Yumiko happy, but she thought that accepting the gratitude was better and easier than denying it, if that would make them happy too.

After most people left, including Yumiko as she bade her goodbye, Aoko thought of leaving too, but from her side-long glance she spotted a wheelchair slowly making its way towards her direction.

She glanced up.

Sitting on the wheelchair was an old, smiling man, and the one pushing the wheelchair was—

Aoko widened her eyes.

Kaitou Kid.

It was like a mix of everything bombarded Aoko at once. Confusion and then surprise and then shock and then confusion again and then it was back to acceptance because she realized in this day and age, everything was possible and that not everything in the world had to be logical, including the factor of coincidence and luck.

(She should really,  _really_ get use to this.)

Kid, on the other hand, had dived straight into nonchalance.

"Hello. I'm Jii." The old man greeted and put out a hand, which she noticed his hospital wrist tag, along with a couple of needle holes on the back of his palm.

"Hi. I'm Nakamori Aoko." Aoko said, shaking Jii's bony hand before glancing at Kid. He was avoiding her gaze, and it wasn't difficult to figure out the reason. She glanced away, putting on the  _I-totally-don't-know-you_  act too.

Jii tilted his head up and gave a stern look when he noticed Kid's silence. "You promised me." Jii hushed.

This caught Aoko's attention.  _Promise?_

"OK. OK." Kid sighed and twitched his lips at Aoko, showing the bare minimum of a smile. "Hi."

"Just hi?" Jii chuckled. "You're supposed to introduce yourself too."

Now that Aoko remembered  _and_ realized… she never knew what his true name was. Kaitou Kid was just his alias, but she was so used to it that she treated it as his real name.

A habit that became a tradition, it seemed.

Her heart began thumping so loudly she could hear it in her ears. She lowly moved her hands to her back, afraid to let either man see the nervous twitches at the thought of knowing something she never dared to dream of.

_Kid's… real name?_

"I thought a hi is good enough." Kid retorted.

Jii shook his head. He turned back to Aoko. "His name is Kaito."

 _Kaito? Kaitou? As in Kaitou Kid?_ Aoko darted a glimpse at Kid, who was grimacing like a kid being forced to study math during summer break.

"Nice to meet you." Was the only thing she could say in response.

"Are you here to visit someone?" Jii asked.

She noticed Kid's subtle tilt of his head towards her.

"Yeah, a friend. I just finished visiting her and, well… this happened." She gestured to the piano, dragging the topic back to why Jii probably approached her in the first place (She hoped Kid was grateful for that).

Jii nodded thoughtfully. "The piano had been here for as long as I remembered, but nobody ever played anything serious on it."

"It's just children songs." Aoko said hastily.

"But you played very well, and enough to brighten everyone's day." Jii closed his eyes, taking in the moment. "Thank you for that."

Aoko smiled politely, because that was the only thing she knew to do. She wasn't sure what Kid and Jii's relationship was, and whether if Jii knew what Kid—Kaito (Kaitou?) actually did for a living. But even if she disapproved whatever Kid done, she had no rights to tell Jii anything, especially when it wasn't her business (And how would he take the news?).

"Ok, Jii-chan. I think we should go back." Kid announced loudly, seemingly taking the chance of that one second of silence to escape out of this mess. He grabbed the wheelchair handles, ready to turn it around and out of the lounge.

"Wait, I still want to talk to Aoko-san."

"But it's going to be your medication time soon."

Apparently, Jii knew the wheelchair's mechanism better than Kid. He stopped Kid's attempt with the brake and shook his head. "It won't be in another two hours. Turns out I have a better memory than you."

Kid scowled.

"You should try learning too. Piano, I mean. Good for wooing girls." Jii nudged Kid's hand, continuing the conversation like it wasn't disrupted. "Or maybe you can ask Aoko-san to teach you."

"It's fine. I don't want to." Kid said, sounding desperate to get out of this conversation but also reluctant to upset Jii.

"Kaito is usually very keen to learn new things, and always has been since he was young." Jii looked at Aoko with a glint in the eyes, as if they were about to share a deep secret. "But sadly, that's not the case when it comes to tactics in wooing girls—"

"Jii-chan—"

"—If your father knew you have yet to get a girlfriend at your age, he'd be disappointed. Don't you remember the stories about how your parents got together?"

Kid pinched the bridge of his nose. "How can I not when I heard it for about five thousand times?"

"Then why aren't you putting them to practice?" Jii hushed not-so-quietly. "Ask this fine lady for her number."

Aoko blinked.  _Where… is this conversation going again?_ (And she thought they were talking about the piano just three seconds ago.)

Kid's lips turned into a thin line. "No."

"Can't even humour this old man's dying wish?"

"You're not dying, Jii-chan."

"Everyone is going to die at some point."

"You are right." Kid closed his eyes. "If this conversation continues, my point is now."

That was it; Aoko couldn't control herself anymore. She first let out a snort, and then burst out laughing at the end, clutching the side of her stomach as she did.

"Great job, Kaito." She heard Jii said while she was still struggling to breathe. "You made a girl laugh. That is one step to wooing a girl."

Through her teary gaze, she saw Kid scowling at her, and it only made her laugh even louder. But she knew she had to stop or this was going to get awkward, especially when her laughter wasn't exactly the best of sound or the prettiest to look at. She coughed a few times, took in a few deep breaths, hoping to regain her composure.

"I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just…"

Just what? She really didn't know what to say, but Jii saved her the moment.

"You don't have to apologise." Jii said, turning to Kid and softly smacking his hand. "Go on, ask for her number. The worst that can happen is a no."

"I really don't—"

"Sure." Aoko cut in, smiling. "I can give you my number."

"She agreed!" Jii cheered, oblivious to Kid's death glare. Really, all he needed was a knife and he would be crowned the best imitation of a serial killer for any Halloween contest (And with that thought, Aoko had to look away before she accidentally burst out laughing again).

Sucking a breath through his teeth, Kid forced a smile. "But it's still not necessary. And anyway, I don't have my phone with me."

Jii frowned. "I saw you using it a while ago."

"I left it in your room."

Aoko rolled her eyes. Considering his line of work, she didn't believe Kid would leave his phone anywhere, but she definitely knew he wouldn't want her touching his phone, even if she was only going to pretend typing her number into his contact list. Mildly shaking her head as Kid continued explaining his stupid, fake excuse to Jii, she fished out a pen and grabbed his wrist, surprising the heck out of Kid as he flinched.

"What—" Kid began, but stopped when Aoko began jotting down her phone number onto his palm.

She actually intended to write some random digits for show, but before she knew it, her pen moved like it had a mind on its own and what she wrote was her actual number instead. Though it didn't matter since Kid already knew, it was just funny to think that, ironically, the numbers on his hand were probably the first and only real thing they ever had between each other.

Pushing those irrelevant thoughts away, Aoko clicked her pen when she was done and watched the blue ink soaked into the lines of his pale skin. Now that she noticed, too, his fingers were pretty long…

Kid pulled away—as though his hand got burnt—and shoved it into his pocket. " _OK_ , we should really go now." He said to Jii.

Jii sighed. "See? This is why you are terrible at wooing girls. You're supposed to thank her and tell her you will call soon."

"I will thank her  _later_. Let's go." Kid said, not before sneaking a  _look_  at Aoko, which she understood, strangely. It was a message for her to stay, and that he had lots of things to tell her, besides a  _thank you_ , definitely.

"Goodbye Aoko-san." Jii waved before Kid pushed him out of the lounge.

.o.

It wasn't long before Kid appeared again, with angry stomps, furrowed eyebrows, and both hands tucked deeply inside his jeans pocket.

"I know we don't have an agreement," he said as he approached Aoko on the piano seat. "But I thought it wasn't necessary because it seems like  _common sense_."

Aoko was confused. She stood up, not wanting Kid to tower over her. "Common sense for what?"

He cast her a pointed look. "Aren't you stalking me because you know my real face?"

Aoko scowled back. "I'm flattered that you think  _I_  have the ability to actually stalk  _you_ , The Kaitou Kid, when you once deemed me unfit to be a private investigator because I'm not  _discreet_  enough."

"Great. Quoting me and holding grudges, again." Kid shook his head. "Why are you so petty?"

"How am I petty?" She jabbed a finger at him. "You're literally accusing me!"

She must have said it with a good amount of conviction for Kid to believe her without much contemplation. "Then why are you here?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I came to visit a friend."

Kid stared at her. "On this floor?"

 _Now_  she felt stupid, but there was no other way to say it beside admitting the truth. "Uh, no. I… boarded the wrong lift that only goes to alternate floors and ended up here."

"And then you ended up playing the piano too."

She bared her teeth. "Yes. Funny how life can get."

He crossed his arms, almost sulking. "Yes. Very funny."

Aoko knew Kid as Kaitou Kid, and worked with him _because_  he was Kaitou Kid. But this was the first time she seen him  _not_  being the person Aoko knew him as. He had shown emotions that expanded out of Aoko's knowledge. He carried responsibilities and had someone he cared about. He was respectful. He was patient. He was here.

Rounding it all up, today made Kid more human than Aoko could ever feel.

It was a little sweet yet sad at the same time. And somewhere in her heart, a tiny bit of her dislike towards Kid crumbled and fell away, much to her own surprise.

"You're cute when you sulk." Aoko said, in the most teasing way she could sound as possible (because speaking it in any other tone could dangerously imply a  _lots of things_  that Aoko dared not think about).

Kid uncrossed his arms and glared at her. "I'm  _what_?" He said, in a way she knew he had definitely heard her. The extra evidence was his reddening ears, but Aoko couldn't tell if he was embarrassed, angry or both.

 _Hah._  Aoko smirked. What a rare and god-sent opportunity, to manage to rile Kid up like that. But the triumph she felt had gotten her all giddy and excited, and before she realized it, her lips moved, and words she never intended to say aloud slipped out instead:

"It's nice to know you in this form. The  _you_ , when you're not Kid and stealing."

Kid blinked, and then gave an odd look, like he was unsure whether she was teasing him or making a serious remark. But Aoko didn't allow him to figure out the truth, because it was,  _in fact,_ a serious remark.

Quickly, with the  _art of distraction_ , Aoko cleared her throat and glanced down the corridor Kid came from, hoping he wouldn't notice her tensed up shoulders. "Is Jii-san your grandfather?" She asked the first question she could think in her head.

"No." He muttered.

"Oh. Your uncle?"

"No."

"Um, distant uncle?"

"Do you actually think I'll tell you?"

Aoko barely resisted the urge to stuck her tongue out before she turned, watching a few nurse suddenly scurrying down the corridor with a heavy look on their faces.

Kid was looking at them too.

She wondered if he was worried the nurses were running towards Jii's ward, but she remembered he came from the other side, so the chances were much lower… Still, that didn't mean his worries were to be belittled in any sense or case... It would be totally inappropriate, redundant, ridiculous  _and_  crazy to express her concerns about how Kid was feeling, but it wouldn't be that so if it was about Jii.

"Anyway, is… Jii-san alright?" She asked, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

It was like a sudden, thick cloud had passed Kid's face and she couldn't tell anything from his expression. But when he looked up at her, lips parting so slowly in a way that seemed like he was about to tell her something real, something serious… The hair on the back of Aoko's neck lifted in anticipation, wondering if—

"It's none of your business." Kid muttered and looked away, his features back to its furrowed-brows state.

Of course she knew she should change her habit of expecting too much, _but…_ Aoko frowned. "You're being extra pissy today."

"Yes. Because you're here." He replied without hesitation.

Aoko rolled her eyes. "I already said I'm not stalking you."

"I know," Kid peeled open one of his hands, revealing the numbers she wrote on his palm. She stared at it as well, until he clenched his hand into a fist and looked ahead, distracted.

"Then?" Aoko asked, but realisation dawned upon her quickly enough. "Just to make it clear, I'm not going to push you over the edge with this underhand advantage—I will  _never_ approach Jii-san, and I will  _never_ question him about you or your real identity."

He looked at her, silent and observing with his pair of unblinking blue eyes—She wondered if he was contemplating whether he should trust her words, but his next sentence surprised her: "It's not about that."

Aoko raised her eyebrows curiously, prompting him to continue.

Kid put the same hand deep inside the pocket of his jeans. "It's nothing."

"There's something."

"There's nothing."

"Something"

" _Nothing_."

Aoko opened her mouth, preparing to rebuke again, but the voice didn't come. Empathy won over her curiosity, in a way. There was no use in pushing, and she understood that well when she just went through Keiko's persistent questionings about when Aoko was going to find someone to settle down.

"Fine." She said with a resigned sigh, but not without eyeing him in disdain.

Kid caught her look and sneered back. "Hurry up and use that last favour already."

"I will. Don't worry."

"Good."

" _Good._ "

"Goodbye."

"Good _bye_." Aoko spat, not mentally registering the context of the words that rolled out of her tongue until Kid spun around, catching her off guard. Dumbstruck, she stood there, watching Kid leave as he stalked out of the lounge and disappeared behind the wall.

It was similar like that time he came and left her almost immediately after passing her the thumb drive at the cinema, but similar didn't mean the same.

There was more to his tensed shoulders, his agitation, and his clear way of showing the distance he was trying to put between them.

And her?

She could be, might be, and maybe a little sad that their conversation came so fast to an end.

 

* * *

 

**Kaito's call**

 

Kaito had been busy.

 _Had been_  was the key word. He wasn't busy now, at least not until Snake ordered his next steal, or if his mother asked him to seek revenge on her behalf, or if he had to do some favour for other people—just all the things that weren't in his interest. It was only when the list for all of those boxes were unchecked then he finally had the time to do what he wanted to do.

Still,  _being busy_  was no excuse. It was hard to not let the guilt get into him, especially when Jii was the closest thing Kaito had to a grandfather.

It had been weeks since Kaito last visited Jii, and seeing no changes could be considered a good thing, in a way. Jii wasn't skinner, and the amount of grey hair (or hair, basically) remained the same. The relief made it easier for Kaito to put on his cheeky smile as he sat on the visitor's chair next to Jii's bed.

Barely ten minutes into his visit, after Kaito updated Jii's tablet with a couple of new games, a nurse came into the ward to deliver Jii's meal. Kaito didn't bother asking if the food tasted good since it obviously didn't look so, and Jii would lie and say it was anyway. So they talked about every other things beside the food, like the weather, his mother, his cars and so on.

Then it eventually came down to this question, one that Kaito saw it coming:

"Is everything going well lately?" Jii asked as he pushed away his finished lunch, his features relaxed in that patient and caring way.

 _Not really._  Kaito wanted to say, but of course he didn't. He wouldn't be able to explain why, and he didn't need an extra person worrying about unchangeable things. It would do no good to either of them, so he shrugged, put on a grin and said:

"It's okay."

"I haven't seen much news about  _you_." Jii said, his voice lowered even though they were in a private ward. "Is _it_ found?"

Kaito shook his head. "The search is still on, but he hasn't given me anything to do yet."

"I see…" Jii said and leaned against his pillow as he fiddled with his spectacles. Usually, the conversation would end and Jii would move on, but today was different.

Today  _had_  been different.

"Then," Jii began again, his voice sounding hesitant rather than soft. "Will you stop after it's found?"

Kaito stared at Jii, wondering which route of the conversation he should go; one which he would reply with a silly comment or one that was serious, something that wouldn't fit the cheerful Kuroba Kaito Jii wished he would always be. But Kaito couldn't help but glanced down at his hand, and the thought of crashing the imaginary glowing jewel made him choose the latter.

"Of course not after it's found," he mumbled. "I'll stop only after I destroy it and  _them_."

Jii's brows creased, like all the other times when he was worried about Kaito since he was… born, perhaps. "Kaito-botchama…" He blurted weakly.

Kaito sighed, the brief rush of adrenaline he felt gone like the wind. "You know I told you not to call me that anymore."

Jii smiled, one that Kaito wasn't sure was sad or pitiful. "It's a habit that's hard to change." He said.

Kaito knew that statement well. He had done that mistake a countless times; the habit of sleeping without his blankets, the habit of eating his food without chewing properly… and the habit of buying flowers for graves he dared not visit.

True, habits were hard to change, but he wished Jii could quit his for good. It always made Kaito feel like he was stuck in the past, in that body of the boy who was weak and useless—

Suddenly, filling the cold silence that lurked between them was the sound of a bright, melodic song coming from the piano outside.

Jii slowly sat up from the bed. "What's that?"

The tune sounded so familiar… Kaito closed his eyes, trying to figure it out, and he snapped his fingers when he did: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." He said aloud.

The song was short, but almost immediately, the next song was played as they listened quietly to the cheery music. It was another children song.

And then another.

From the small window pane on the door, Kaito could see a number of people passing by and heading towards the direction of the lounge.

"I want to take a look too." Jii said, noticing the passers-by.

In all honesty, Kaito was curious too, but he hid it well enough to not tempt Jii into the idea. He shook his head. "You're not supposed to get out of bed."

"Ten minutes is fine." Jii pointed at the wheelchair. "And I'm not going to walk. You can push me out."

Kaito sighed. "But the doctors said—"

"Let's make a bet too."

"…Huh?"

"If it's a kid playing, we'll leave at the next song. If it's a man playing, we'll leave immediately." Jii paused, his eyes glinting behind his spectacles frame—and Kaito could tell what Jii was about to say next wasn't going to be anything good…

"If it's a woman playing," Jii continued. "You'll have to go up and say hi to her."

"What? No." Kaito spat. "None of the outcomes are in my favour. And I'm not going to let you go anyway."

Jii chuckled. "You're acting like an old geezer."

"It's for your sake."

"This is for your sake too."

Kaito crossed his arms defiantly and scrutinised Jii from the corner of his eyes. "Did you and mom talk recently?"

"…Not exactly." Jii looked away, in a way that Kaito knew it  _was_  exactly that.

"Fine." Kaito stood up to get the wheelchair, much to Jii's delight. "But before we go, I want to amend the bet."

"What is it?"

"If the one playing the piano is a kid," (which Kaito was 99% sure of), "I want you to tell mom to stop pestering me about this whole getting-a-girlfriend thing."

Jii gave a pained smile. "You want me to  _convince_ Madam? If you can't, what makes you think I can?"

"She rather listens to you than her own son."

"That's not true—"

"I'll prepare a script for you. Don't worry." Kaito chirped, suddenly finding this impromptu idea the best thing he had ever thought of in his life. No more random midnight calls to ask if he'd gotten a girlfriend. No more long, spam text messages of links to different dating websites. No more degrading, web-cams moments of his mother sighing two hundred times as she wondered aloud about whose lack-of-romance genes did he inherit from.

No more of those nonsense.

"Alright," Jii said. "But if it's a woman, you have to remember that bet."

"Yes, yes." Kaito nonchalantly waved a hand, because come on? He already knew the outcome of the bet. His gut sense was always right.

Helping Jii up and onto the wheelchair, Kaito pushed him out of his ward.

Kaito knew the piano was at the lounge area since he always passed it by every time, but he wasn't wheeling Jii towards the lounge based on his direction sense. He was following the song, the sound of the bright, confident and happy piano keys being played like some kind of guiding light. And when they got even closer, he could hear a girl singing too.

The small lounge was almost filled when they reached.

Through the gap of the crowd, indeed, Kaito spotted a child singing by the piano, but she wasn't part of the bet they set. His eyes continued trailing pass the audiences' heads, until he spotted the person on the piano seat…

A woman; brown hair sweeping slightly across her back—

(or red hair?)

Kaito widened his eyes.

"Hah!" Jii cheered. "It's a woman playing!"

Tightening the grip of the wheelchair, Kaito pushed Jii closer to get a better view of the woman. And when he did, relief washed over him to know it was indeed brown hair that he saw, but the moment didn't last long; because it was also the same time he realized brown was the  _only_  hair colour that would match her blue eyes, sharp nose, and her pink, slightly-pouty lips.

Nakamori Aoko.

What. The. Heck.

In his cardiac-arrest state, Aoko glanced up to the crowd, her blue eyes briefly scanning over.

(or red eyes?)

He didn't bother hiding, or rather because he knew it was pointless to. She spotted him almost immediately and her lips parted when they made eye contact, but she hastily turned away and focused on playing the children song.

(or was it Mozart?)

Suddenly the world was too overwhelming for Kaito to think. Somebody was making a comment about the girl's voice, a nurse was humming to the tune of the song, the buzz of the air conditioning was whirring in his ears—

Then Aoko finished playing, stood up, and everyone began clapping.

Jii clapped along before looking up at Kaito, his mouth splitting into a big grin. "Let's go and talk to her."

Kaito should rebuke, should back out on the deal, but all he could do was to give in and nodded, because he was too tired to think or do anything else when he'd spent the last minute trying to control the dam in him to not break.

.o.

It was barely seven in the morning when Kaito's phone vibrated under his pillow, almost like a constant drill. Groaning, he reached out for the phone and scrolled through the long strings of spam text notifications on his screen wearily. It was all from his mother and her demands for him to get up and accept her video call (for some strange reason, she preferred video calls than phone calls).

She only stopped spamming when he replied her an OK, but that didn't mean he could pretend that and go back to sleep (because she'd definitely spam again in a minute or so if she still saw him offline). So he dragged himself up, booted up his computer, and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee (because he needed it if he had to talk to his mother at this timing). Before Kaito even returned to his seat, he received the video-call request, and he quickly clicked it before the loud notification sounded.

 _"Oh my gosh! I can't believe this!"_ Was the first thing his mother said the moment she appeared on his screen.

Kaito sat down, taking a sip of his coffee. "Hi—"

_"Jii told me everything that happened yesterday when you visited him! But why didn't you tell me anything?"_

Of course this was about  _that_  hospital visit. He was hoping it wasn't, but why bother lying to himself? Kaito sighed. "Because I know Jii-chan will tell you anyway. Save my effort."

_"So what's her name again? Is it Anko?"_

Kaito pricked the skin under his nail. "Aoko."

_"Aoko-chan! What a sweet name."_

"Uh—"

_"Jii said she is pretty."_

"Um…"

_"Did you call her back?"_

Never in the sense that his mother wished. And Aoko didn't contact him either, so there's that. "No."

_"Why not? You had the best opportunity—"_

"Just no."

_"—and you ruined it."_

"Mom."

_"Yes?"_

Finally; the silence that she finally spared him to speak and let his ears take a break. But he didn't know what to say despite the chance. He stared at the screen, watching his mother looking back at him in slight concern she would never express verbally.

"I'm fine." He said, answering her silent question.

 _"Are you?"_ She asked back in doubt.

"Yes."

The furrow of her brows was still in place.  _"I don't believe you."_

Kaito scoffed. "You never believe me."

_"Because you never tell me the truth."_

Truth? What truth could he say, and one that he would allow himself to let her know?

Nothing.

"Just stop asking Jii-chan to do these weird things." Kaito muttered. "Let me visit him in peace."

 _"What are you talking about?"_  His mother scoffed, acting nonchalant (and if Kaito didn't know her well enough, he would have bought the act).

"I know what you're trying to do. And it's not just about cradling grandchildren." He pushed a hand through his messy bed hair. "But I… can't _."_

His mother bit her lips, letting the silence drowned away his words until they were forgotten, at least temporarily. And only then did she dare to continue what she had to say.

 _"It's been years, Kaito."_ She began slowly.

He looked away.

_"Shouldn't you—"_

"Hypocrite." Kaito muttered, but it was loud enough for his mother to hear on the other side of the world.

She shook her head.  _"I'm different"_

"How different?"

 _"I didn't allow the guilt to haunt me for life."_ His mother placed a hand over her chest. _"I'm happier. And free. And I know that's what he wants for me."_

"..."

_"And I'm sure that's what they—"_

"You know what? I'm tired." Kaito stood up from his seat with his coffee mug. "You woke me up from my sleep. I'm going back to bed."

_"Wait—"_

Since their first ever video-call years ago, this was the first time Kaito ended it before his mother did. It was heartless, and maybe a little bit cruel, but he really couldn't continue anymore. Indeed, maybe he hadn't been hundred percent honest with his mother all along, but this time he did speak the truth: He was really tired.

Kaito trudged back to the kitchen and put his mug into the sink before heading to bed. He didn't need the coffee anymore. He just needed sleep.

It was the only thing he knew to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this is how far I've updated over at fanfiction, I'll try my best to keep both places updated, if i'm not such a lazy ass  
> I'm glad if you guys actually managed so far lololol  
> reviews are loved


	8. Chapter 8

**Aoko's realization**

 

In Aoko's line of work, hotels almost seemed like her second office or some sort. She had visited many and been on all kinds of different floor, from the cheaper rooms at the lower levels to as prestigious and rich as those presidential suite on those higher levels.

This time it was the middle. An Executive suite, very fitting for the manager of a tech company to use and bill it off as a company purpose. But Aoko didn't think so, and same for her client.

The budget given to Aoko for this job rather generous, or so to speak. With her hotel card in hand, Aoko pressed the floor to her room she booked right next to the cheating husband's one. The floor button lit up in silver and the door closed before it began to descend.

There was still a long way to go before reaching her floor, but Aoko felt the lift slowing down, and then it stopped, just a few levels after the lobby. She glanced at the lift directory signage. The lift had stopped on the floor where there was a function room.

As the door slowly opened, widening the gap for Aoko to see what was on the floor, her quick glance spotted something.

Lots of people.

And cameras.

Like an instinct, she knew what was coming and quickly turned her head away, which was a millisecond before flashes and flashes burst into sight, possibly blinding her if she hadn't looked away.

Then the voices came.

_"Excuse me! Mr. Goldberg!"_

_"Mr. Goldberg, please wait—!"_

Barely opening her eyes. Aoko darned whoever that pressed for her lift and slammed her hand against the close button, but just before she heard the door closed, the lift shook under the presence of a sudden weight and something hit pass her shoulder. It all happened so quick, and in the next second, the sound of the snapping cameras and chants of begging pleas for this  _Mr. Golberg-whoever_  faded away, leaving only the lift's delicate music playing in the background.

"Lucky." A male voice said.

Aoko flung open her eyes.

She did it too fast; there were white dots in her vision and Aoko tried to blink them away. Her normal sight came back soon enough, and when everything was cleared, the first thing she saw was yellow.

Yellow hair.

A man standing next to her.

His pale skin seemed to be glowing under the warm, elevator lights, which was the same thing for his hair. Everything about him—his appearance, attire and poise—told her he wasn't local, but his accent already did give the answer away.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah." Aoko cleared her throat. "You _—_ "

"You and the lift came in time to save me." He chuckled lightly. "The paparazzi these days are amazing. Really energetic and passionate with their work."

Aoko couldn't disagree, but there was nothing else she know to say, so she smiled awkwardly and looked away.

"My name is Gunter Von Goldberg. You can call me Gunter." He said and looked at her expectedly. It was only a few seconds had passed than Aoko realized he was waiting for her to reply.

But she didn't ask for his, though.

Swallowing the sigh in her, she mustered a smile. "I'm Aoko."

"You're not a paparazzo, are you?" He said, eyes flickering to her camera-bag.

Aoko tugged onto the strapped on her shoulder. "No, I'm not." She said, and it was all the information she was willing to give.

But despite that, he seemed to have come up with more than just a simple conclusion on his own. "I see." He smiled knowingly (but it didn't quite seem to reach his eyes) before he began unbuttoning the cuffs of his expensive-looking suit.

She had no idea who this Gunter guy was, and why there were so many paparazzi out there trying to take a picture of him, but it wouldn't take a brain cell to know he must be well-known enough to garner such attention from the paparazzi. But well-known for the good or bad… Aoko wouldn't know until she google it up.

Which she obviously couldn't do now.

But there was something about him that made her weirdly nervous as she stuffed a hand into her jeans pocket, a sort of pathetic attempt to hide her fidgets. It wasn't about being in a lift with a possibly famous person (she had a fair amount of moments meeting well-known people in her line of work, be it good or  _very_  bad). It was something about the aura that he was radiating. Some kind of confidence; like he knew something she didn't, and that he was laughing at her in his head all along.

Similar to the first few times when she met Kaitou Kid.

Really, thanks to her coincidental luck with Kid and the meetings with him (especially that museum visit and Gozu's chase episode), Aoko had grown more cautious towards her surrounding and people; Often she would expect someone to suddenly tear the mask off their face, showing the curve of his smug lips and blue eyes (that she might have missed) before bursting out laughing in that snarky tone and calling her a fool for believing his disguise.

She could imagine that most of the time, but she couldn't imagine it now.

Something in her gut told her Gunter could  _never_ be Kid.

He couldn't be.

Gunter was calm, in an eerie way. His eyes were blue, but it looked somewhat dead. However there was still this uncanny sense of similarity Aoko found between Gunter and Kid, and she couldn't put that thought into words. It was like a mix of unpredictability, mistrust and a pinch of terror; only the bad feelings she ever felt towards Kid were compressed inside the lift, suffocating her—

"Is there something wrong with my face?"

"Wha— No." Aoko straightened (She had been so deep in her thoughts she didn't realize she was peeking). "Um, sorry. I was just… wondering about something." She sputtered.

"I see." Gunter said before some kind of enlightenment hit his face. "Ah, anyway, I have yet to thank you for helping me."

And Aoko was hoping their conversation was over. She briefly glanced at the red digits above the lift door; there was still some more floors to go. "I didn't do anything." She waved a hand weakly.

"If you weren't in the lift, I'll still be outside the function room and hounded by the paparazzi."

"I'm sure the hotel staffs would—"

"Here, for you."

In his hand was a ticket that he had whipped out from the inner pockets of his suit. It looked like it was dipped in gold, and against the shimmery colour were black italic fonts, spelling the words:  _The Illusionist — Gunter Von Goldberg II's Second Asia Tour._

_Illusionist?_ "I can't accept this." Aoko shook her head.

"It's a small token of my appreciation." He said and pushed the ticket into her hand, which she embarrassedly caught it before it slipped from her grasp. "I would love it if you can come and watch my show."

"I—"

The elevator chimed with a sharp  _ding!_ and the door opened.

It was Aoko's floor.

The relief washed over her that she couldn't be bothered with her excuse and took the ticket, just so she could get out of the lift as fast as possible.

Gunter smiled. "Goodbye Aoko. I'll see you at my show."

Aoko opened her mouth. Of course she wasn't going to promise him anything, but her tongue didn't obey, as though it was… being controlled. She gaped like a fish, trying to find the words to speak, but before she could say anything, the lift door closed and it continued ascending, up and up to the highest floor.

_His room must be really expensive._ Aoko gulped and stared at the ticket in her hand.  _And this must be really expensive too._

Whatever.

She stuffed the ticket into the back of her pocket, hoisted her camera bag and walked towards the room her job called her here for.

.o.

In the end, Aoko went.

It wasn't because she wanted to fulfil the non-existent promise. There were just so many factors to think about, like the need of a well-deserved break after her tiring case, the fact that the performance was held right across the theatre opposite the hotel, and that she was also curious about the differences between those traditional magicians and an illusionist. It was these little things; the curiosity, coincidence and the  _why-not?_  mindset that made it hard for her to just get up and go home.

When she arrived and showed the ticket to the usher, his expression changed from bored to professional as he led her inside the theatre. He brought her all the way to the front, sitting alongside with other people with thick suits and dresses and alluding an air of  _I-am-rich_.

Aoko was definitely very under-dress in this seat category. And she thought this was just a simple performance show.

Guess not.

The show began no sooner after she settled down.

"Ladies and Gentleman! Welcome to my show!" Mr. Goldberg—Gunter—or whatever he was called, appeared on the stage with two arms in the air. Not appeared in the way like walking onto the stage; he was  _floating_  down from the curtains above, and despite how hard Aoko tried to squint her eyes, she couldn't see any metal strings attached to him anywhere.

The crowd cheered.

She couldn't help but applauded for that entrance.

Almost throughout the performance, Aoko heard the audiences' ohhhs and ahhhs more often then Gunter spoke. She wasn't a master in magic performances, per se, but she did figure out some of the mechanism used during the show, like hypnotism, special digital effects and the art of distraction—

_Art of distraction_ , huh.

Um  _ok_ , this was getting weird. Aoko shook her head and straightened on her seat. She was here for the show, not to think about Kid (if she had actually paid for the ticket it would be a waste).

Focus.  _Focus_.

Everything ended an hour later.

When Aoko was about to leave (it was rather overwhelming with the amount of rich people around her), a theatre staff suddenly approached and asked her to follow him to the backstage. For the quickest second she thought there was a murder (because statistically it always seemed to happen after a performance), but she remembered she wasn't Kudo Shinichi, and there was no way anyone would know she was an investigator too.

So when she spotted Gunter standing by the backstage door with his arms crossed and waiting, Aoko already saw it coming.

The theatre staff left.

Gunter smiled. "Hi, Aoko."

"Hi." Aoko managed a smile, her teeth gritting nervously. She wished she could correct him on the way of calling her name so directly, but she found no will or point to do it. This would be their last meeting anyway.

"How do you like my show?" He asked.

"I enjoyed it."

"I knew you would."

It took all of Aoko's nerves to not cringe at the confidence Gunter was showing. Even Kid wasn't as annoying when he—

_Why am I still thinking about him now?_

"Do you want to have dinner with me?" Gunter asked.

Aoko blinked.

Yes, it was a nice performance, and it'd be a loss if one didn't get to see such talent, but screw that! This was the moment when she regretted coming, not just to the backstage but to the show. Tracking back, she regretted being in that lift too. If she had woken five minutes earlier, if she had beaten the traffic light when she was on the way to the hotel, if she didn't stop to chat with the hotel counter staff, maybe she wouldn't have met him.

And he wouldn't be so...  _nice_  to her.

Was this some kind of foreigner thing? Being so friendly towards people they barely knew?

But something in her gut was telling her it was more than  _that..._

Aoko pursed her lips, realising she had yet to answer. "Um—"

_"Mr. Goldberg!"_

Both of them turned.

A crowd of people was running down the corridor and towards them.

"Can we take a photo?" A woman holding a polaroid camera exclaimed.

"Can you sign this for me?" A male teenager showed a poster and marker.

And behind them, five other people began shouting too, while waving whatever they wanted Gunter to do in their hands.

_Safe!_

"I think you're busy." Aoko gestured over to the fans and stepped away. "And this time I can't help you with it."

"What about the dinner?" He looked at her, just like that moment in the lift when he told her he would see her at the show... It was a force Aoko couldn't resist against,and she couldn't move her throat to tell him a  _no_ —

The phone in her back pocket vibrated, and Aoko broke the eye contact she didn't realize they were having until she looked down at her phone. It was the usual advertisement message, but it was a good distraction.

"I'll pass." She said, keeping the phone to her chest. "I'll be going off now."

"Alright then. I'll see you soon." Gunter said before Aoko ran past the group of fans and out of the backstage.

_Not soon. But ok._

Nothing could compel her to turn back.

She had always considered her meeting with Kid weird, but this was another level. In the span of one day, Aoko's discomfort had multiplied more times than what Kid had given her, all  _combined_. But maybe Gunter wasn't the problem. It could be her. She was the problem. She must have offended some stars in the universe, leading to such complicated fate in meeting strangest people in the strangest way.

Or maybe it had to do with the twisted karma she got for killing a possibly cursed spider in her old house when she was five.

.o.

Apparently Aoko had been living in a cave, or on another planet, or under a rock, because when she told Keiko she saw Gunter in the lift, and that he gave her a ticket to his show,  _and_  they even met backstage, she couldn't understand why Keiko reacted like she was about to flip her house upside down.

Keiko facepalmed. "Why are you taking this so… casually?"

Aoko frowned (She knew she made the right choice for not mentioning her rejection to Gunter's offer for dinner too). "What is my response supposed to be?"

"You're supposed to feel like the luckiest girl in the world of course!" Keiko exclaimed, but kept her volume down quickly, not wanting to wake up her baby when she'd spend almost an hour hoaxing him to sleep. Rising up from the coach, she tip-toed to her bookshelves and pulled out a magazine before returning to show it to Aoko.

On the cover was a picture of Gunter, with big bold letters spelling  _World's most famous illusionist visiting his last stop: TOKYO for his second Asia Tour!_  across his chest.

Oh.

With so many paparazzi and audiences, Aoko knew Gunter had a reputation, but  _world_  famous?

The world didn't include her, then.

"He's like  _super_  popular around the world. And for him to do all those things you said is anyone's dream come true." Keiko placed a hand theatrically on her chest and sighed. "And Jesus, do you even know how much a ticket cost?"

Aoko did guess it was expensive, but she found no incentive to google it up so she didn't bother. "Um, no."

"Well anyway, I think you've hit the jackpot."

"What jackpot?"

Keiko gestured her head towards the magazine.

"Oh. Uh, whatever the cost of the ticket is, I guess it's well-budgeted; the show is really interesting and high-tech. But illusionism isn't really my thing, to be honest." Aoko shrugged and placed the magazine on the coffee table. "I'm more into the traditional form of magic. Like doves and cards, those kind of things."

"I'm not talking about the cost of the ticket or the show." Keiko shook her head. "I'm talking about a potential boyfriend."

Aoko choked. "Potential  _what_?"

"Boyfriend."

"I heard you. I'm just in disbelief."

" _Why?_ "

"Because of your delusion and imagination; He's not local and he travels around, and we only met two days ago. That's it. It's impossible."

"Why do you _only_ pinpoint the negatives? He seems interested in you!"

"Still not possible."

"In this day and age anything is possible when it comes to love."

It was back to the conversation at the hospital again, which Aoko would like to avoid now. "And nothing is one of the possibilities too."

"I really can't believe your heart didn't waver when you're alone with him in the lift."

Oh boy, it was so much more than that. Aoko shivered at the memory of that minute of her life. She didn't like it, and she wished she would never experience that again.

"Have your heart ever wavered before?" Keiko asked, just to keep the conversation going when Aoko didn't answer. "Like something in you changed because of someone."

_Heart-wavering?_ Aoko had no idea how it felt, or if she had felt it before and wasn't conscious of it... But she was  _sure_ her life had changed in an unexpected way when Kid—

Her face must have shown something because Keiko started smiling. "So  _there's_  someone. I knew it, since that day at the hospital."

Aoko sighed. "There's nobody."

"Then tell me," Keiko challenged. "What were you thinking two seconds ago?"

Aoko sighed, again. "It's complicated."

Two words were all it took to send Keiko into a panicky mode. "Aoko, here's my advice." She grabbed her hand. "Don't love a damaged person just because you think you can heal them with your love—"

"Wait, no. You got it  _all_ wrong. I don't love him. He's not damaged. And I have no intention to heal him with my love."

A small smirk spread across Keiko's cheeks. "So there's a  _he_."

"It's nothing." Aoko gritted her teeth and pulled her hand back.

Keiko frowned. "If you don't love him, why bother taxing your time thinking about it?"

"I'm just conflicted about some things."

"Why?"

To say or not to say? Aoko bit her lip. She didn't want Keiko to further misunderstand the situation, but this whole issue had been bugging her since the time she met Kid at the hospital; how he left so hastily, so uncaring, and even asking her to  _hurry up and use that last favour already_  without much concern that it would also mean the end of everything between them.

It was a little unfair, but at the same time she didn't have the rights to feel that way.

Nothing personal should be tied to it in the first place.

_So say it_ , Aoko decided, before her mental health suffered. If _that_  happened, it would definitely be  _very_  unfair.

"The next time we met..." Aoko mumbled, rubbing a hand behind her neck. "...could be the last time we ever see each other again."

There, finally, she'd admitted it. That one-sided confliction. Her unease. And the sole reason why she kept the flip phone locked in her drawer, afraid to use it any time soon.

Keiko raised an eyebrow. "On what basis?"

"An agreement."

"An agreement?" Keiko echoed. "Can't you mend that or something?"

It wasn't like Aoko didn't try— She did ask if he wanted to join her and work together once. But that night when he gave his irresolute answer, with his back facing her and voice so cold on the bed, it was the last time they ever mentioned about it.

She wasn't going to bring it up, of course, unless he did. But the thought and hope of it seemed rather bleak.

"It's not something I can mend however I want." Aoko squirmed in her seat.

"...Aoko," Keiko paused. "Are you in love with your client?"

"W-What?" Aoko gasped, horrified. "Of course not! How do you even come up with that conclusion? And I already said I'm not in love."

"Really?" Keiko narrowed her eyes. "You've been working very tough lately. Is it because you're busy with the case of the client you are in love with? Is this client asking you to catch his cheating wife? And that after the case is over, you won't be able to meet him anymore? Is that it?"

" _None_  of the above." Aoko waved a hand over Keiko's face, trying to stop her and her imagination from running. "This is totally blown out of proportion."

"To what extent?"

"A lot."

"Then what is it? And who's the person you'll miss after he's gone?"

"Miss?" Aoko jerked back, almost disgusted at the thought. "I  _don't_  miss him. Wait, I mean I  _won't_  miss him." And then she realized the stupidity of correcting herself, and cleared her throat. "I mean I don't  _and_ won't miss him."

After watching Aoko's blabbering with a withering look, Keiko sighed. "If you're afraid that the next meeting with him would be the last, isn't it because you will miss him once he's gone?"

Aoko blinked. "...No, it's not true."

"Yes it is." Keiko muttered. "Anyway, you haven't told me who's that guy."

"You don't know him." Aoko said, which wasn't a full lie. Keiko only knew Kaitou Kid as a thief, and that was it. There was so much about him, which Aoko wished she could tell Keiko, but of course that wasn't going to happen.

"Fine." Keiko huffed. "But can't you be kind enough and at least tell me his name then?"

That was the thing, too.

Aoko didn't know his real name.

 

* * *

 

  **Kaito's regret**

 

 Kaito was late. But at the same time, he couldn't give a damn.

If he had to give an excuse, it would be the place was out of the way. Located at the outskirt of town, he had to ride his bike for nearly two hours before he reached the lone mansion in the middle of the secluded forest; which was one of the organization's headquarters in Tokyo. It was very rare for Snake to suggest that location, unless he  _already_ happened to be there. And the only reason why Snake would be there was because he had an important meeting with the other organization's stakeholders, which Kaito—Kaitou Kid—was not invited.

He never was invited for any, even when he was the main key to getting Pandora.

But even though Kaito was late, Snake didn't call and demand where he was, and he wondered if the meeting was still on-going.

Ten minutes later, the mansion came to view as he drove his bike through the forest, hitting loads of bumps from the roots and fallen branches. Beside it was an empty parking lot, saved for a car he knew belonged to Snake; black and black and black all over. He parked his bike under a tree, away from anything and everything, and headed to the massive, wooden door.

He spotted another car parked just beside the building.

A bright yellow Ferrari.

Kaito frowned.

He wasn't surprised if any of the higher-ranked members could afford such a car, but it was the colour that made the situation weird. No one in the right mind belonging to this so-called discreet organization would have a car of this colour.

But ignoring that bugging feeling, Kaito entered the mansion, acknowledging a few of the underlings that worked here and headed up the stairs and to the room that he was only allowed. He'd been here twice and only been to Snake's room and the restroom, nowhere else. He would have snooped around, obviously, but with so many cameras and eyes looking, it was near impossible. And coming from the infamous Kaitou Kid, this meant something.

Still, that didn't mean he wouldn't try it one day; it was  _near_  impossible, but not entirely, which was why he didn't argue with Snake about the distance he had to travel just to get a slip of stupid paper.

On the second floor, he passed the first room, and then the next room...

Wrapping his hand around the knob of the third room's door, Kaito was about to make his way in when he stopped and leaned his head closer. There were people talking inside, and he wondered who could Snake be talking to. If it was any of his subordinates, Snake would already be shouting, but all Kaito heard were murmurs of a proper conversation.

It got to be someone important.

The owner of the yellow Ferrari?

Kaito opened the door.

Two heads turned.

"You're late." Snake narrowed his eyes from the couch.

Kaito didn't bother to recite his excuse or even acknowledge Snake. All he could focus, in the big room filled with antique furniture and priceless paintings, was the man sitting on another couch opposite of Snake, with crossed legs and smug-look eyes.

Spider.

It was as though the temperature in the room dropped a sudden ten degrees, but neither Snake or Spider flinched.

Only him.

"My, it's been a long, Kid." Spider smiled, showing the contrast of his white teeth against his tan skin.

Tentatively, Kaito closed the door behind him. "Why are you here." He muttered.

"I'm back since last week, haven't you heard?"

_No,_  Kaito obviously didn't, and that was why he was at the edge of spilling all the emotions he was trying to hide behind his thinning facade. He slowly approached towards the sofas, hands dug inside the pocket of his jacket.

Fidgets.

"Here's your next steal." Snake said, handing him a slip of paper.

Kaito didn't bother to look. He snatched it from his hand and stuffed it back inside his pocket. "Is that all?"

"No failures."

_Same old thing._ "I won't." Kaito drawled.

"But this could be your first." Spider spoke. He added a grin, too, which made Kaito change his mind about glaring and decided to leave instead.

He had no intention to stay anywhere near this compound anymore.

It almost felt like Kaito was flying as he brisk-walk; past the corridors, down the stairs, out of the front door and towards his bike. His movements were causing a breeze, but the air that rushed into his nose and lungs felt hot. Like fire.

Fire—

"Hey."

Kaito nearly jumped. Nearly. He fumbled with the keys in his hand and turned, eyes wide and  _glaring._

_Now_ he could glare.

"Don't touch me." Kaito snapped and shrugged his shoulder, jerking Spider's hand away.

Spider smirked, swatting his hands. "Speaking of  _which_ , don't touch my prey too."

It was a good change of conversation, away from the fact that Spider had and always been one of the people who managed to surprise him, in the worse kind of way.

"What are you talking about?" Kaito retorted

"Gozu."

So it was about _that_. Kaito rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be grateful that I cleared a mess for you?

"No." Spider said, twitching the eye that had the spider tattoo over. "I don't appreciate anyone touching my prey when it's supposed to be mine."

"Do I look like I give a shit about what you like or don't?"

"That hurts, when I've always been so concerned of your affairs."

"Are you done? If so, I'm leaving." Kaito turned, stalking off for his bike.

"You got me curious, Kid." Spider continued speaking, his voice amplifying in the forest like an echo. "And I'm curious about what you're curious too."

There was a heavy weight tied to the lightness of Spider's words, and unable to fight that bad urge to know what he meant, Kaito stopped, his feet sinking into the soft soil and mud underneath him. He turned, showing only half of his face to Spider.

"Get to the point."

Spider's smirked, and the magnitude of that smile seemed to grow bigger in Kaito's vision with every step Spider took to close their distance.

"Shouldn't you know what you're curious about?" Spider said with a tilt of his head.

"I said get to the damn point."

It felt like a beat too long before Spider breathed out, "Nakamori Aoko."

What should have been Kaito's response _if_  he was rational enough was to stand there, tilt his head back and ask  _who the hell is Nakamori Aoko?_ with the most impassive gaze he could ever muster. But he didn't—because he wasn't thinking straight, wasn't cool in the head to understand it was all a trick that Spider used (and Kaito fell for the hole he dug himself).

So what actually happened in that split second instead—because Kaito  _wasn't_  rational enough—was stomping towards Spider, grabbed his collar and pinned him against a tree.

Spider wasn't fazed.

Kaito was breathing hard.

Fire in his lungs—

"I met her. That girl's pretty. And smart." Spider rattled on like nothing happened. "Her intuitive senses remind me a lot of you."

They met? They  _actually_ met? Snake was one problem, but Spider? This was the worst. The  _worst_. Kaito felt himself reeling, but the only reason why he was still standing strong was because of the grip around Spider's collar.

So tempting to end it all.

"What the fuck do you want?" Kaito growled.

"You'd stolen my prey, Kid. And this is my way of telling you I don't like it." Spider said, still with that smile plastered on his face.

"What the  _exact_ fuck do you want?"

Spider lifted his hand, and in between his fingers was the slip of paper Snake gave him. "Maybe this?"

Kaito backed away, checking his empty jacket's pocket before snatching the piece of paper from Spider's hand. He had really  _fucked_  up big time—when a thief himself didn't realize something was stolen away from him.

That shitty piece of paper wasn't the only thing he was talking about.

"You want this?" Kaito snapped, the paper creasing under his tight grip. "You want the jewel?"

"No." Spider said as he adjusted his collar and suit. "Unless it's Pandora."

Kaito widened his eyes.

"If it's Pandora, tell me. If it's not, tell me. I want you to report to me before you tell Snake anything about it, including all the other jewels that he is going to ask you to steal in the future.

"Your demand means betrayal to the organization." Kaito muttered warningly. "I can tell Snake this."

"Betrayal to the organization?" Spider cackled. "Who has a better stand on that? The dead body of Nakamori Aoko—a private investigator working for the good, or your accusatory words with no evidence?"

With the confidence in Spider's tone, Kaito knew he had lost the game even before he started playing. At this point it was too late to pretend he didn't know Aoko, but he suspected Spider must already be confident about their relationship to throw in his threats beforehand. The outcome of the match was already set, and Spider was just waiting for Kaito's pointless turns on the check-board before making his victory moves.

Kaito crushed the paper in his hand.

The biggest question was how? How did Spider figure who Aoko was? The last time Kaito met her was at the hospital two weeks ago, which was way before Spider came back. So what slipped up? What did he do wrong? Hadn't he already gotten Aoko off Snake's radar? Or did Snake suspect something and told Spider about Aoko?

_Shit._

But that didn't matter anymore. How didn't matter. Why didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

This was a lost case.

"I'll be keeping watch of your news closely, Kid." Spider said as he casually made his exit with a turn and a wave of his hand. "Don't disappoint me."

Kaito closed his eyes.

Life be damned.

.o.

Kaito left all traces of Kid behind—his face, bike and clothes—and walked all the way to Aoko's house from the train station after changing his disguise at the nearby mall. It was further from his house, but time didn't matter when his brains and legs weren't conscious about it.

He was now in the disguise of a random ice cream shop owner he saw yesterday; dark brown hair, green eyes and wearing a black polo T-shirt and jeans. He didn't bother figuring out his name, much less his personal life, because all Kaito needed was a face to use besides his own.

It was close to ten when he reached Aoko's home. The neighbourhood was empty and dark; everyone had probably turned in early since it was still in the middle of the week. He would have thought the same when he saw pitch darkness through Aoko's house windows, but her missing car was the definite answer that told him she wasn't home.

Was it for work? Her father? Friends?

He settled on the steps in front of her door, staring down at the road where Aoko could come from. Wherever she was, whoever she was with, he just hoped it wouldn't be Spider. But even if that worst-case scenario happened, he was sure Spider wouldn't do anything to her, for now. At least not after Kaito had stolen the jewel.

And the subsequent ones.

Until  _Pandora_.

Whenever Kaito heard a car driving close, he would look up to check, only to watch it pass the road and down the streets. He gave up on his efforts by the tenth one, and only after an hour of waiting, a car that came actually slowed down, fully coming to a stop by the mailbox in front of the house.

Kaito glanced up.

A few seconds later, Aoko got out of blue baby and slammed the car door shut. She was humming and twirling with the car keys in her hand (which he noted had a cute charm attached to his old chain), until she saw him.

She flinched, face full on alert. "Wha—"

Kaito stood up from the steps.

A second later her lips parted in recognition. "Kid?"

It was his turn to be caught off guard. Kaito hadn't said a single word, and wasn't he on a disguise? The sudden uncertainty made him reach out for his chin, feeling the wax material on his skin; his disguise was there.

Then how did she actually recognize him?

Aoko tilted her head. "It is you?" She prompted again, though the confidence in her tone faltered.

"Yeah. It's me." He said, hiding his puzzlement under his careful voice.

Her shoulders visibly relaxed as she made her way towards him. "Why are you here?"

He brushed off his previous wonderment and decided to focus on the priority. He asked back a question. "What are you up to?"

Aoko furrowed her brows, like she couldn't quite figure it out but still went with the flow. "I'm not up to anything." She said cautiously.

"Nothing? Are you sure?"

She placed a hand on her hip. "Why are you here _and_  asking these weird questions?"

_Because I want you to be safe._ "Can we talk in the car?"

He noticed the flicker of her gaze from him to her house, and the mild shake of her head as if she just debated with herself. "Okay. Car. Sure." She said, twirling with the car key again.

After unlocking the car, they settled themselves inside—or perhaps it was just him who had settled down. Aoko was fidgeting with almost everything in the car; the rear mirror, the window buttons... basically her focus was on everything else besides the intention to start the conversation. If Kaito cared to observe, Aoko actually seemed nervous to be in the car with him. And it was ironic when they had been in much small space, like crawling through an air duct together.

But because his mind was clouded with worry and doubt, he didn't notice that little nervous tension coming from Aoko, which was also why he didn't bother cushioning the blow when he dived straight to the point. "You should leave the country." He said.

Aoko stopped, her hands hovering over the steering wheel. She let her arms fall limply to her sides before turning her head robotically at him. "Leave the  _what?_ "

"Leave the country." He repeated. "Anywhere away from here. Far away."

With just a snap of a finger, Aoko flared, but the anger in her eyes vanished just as quick and became solemn. "Why are you— Did something happen?" She asked in a low whisper.

_"Her intuitive senses remind me a lot of you."_

Kaito pressed a hand into his eyes, trying to squeeze the memories of the afternoon conversation away; the last thing he needed was Spider's voice to start echoing in his head. He swallowed hard. "Not exactly."

Her anger slowly seeped through the cracks again. "What are you talking about then? Why do I have to leave the country? I'm not going to—"

"You're in danger."

She stopped. "Danger? Why?"

Kaito took in a deep breath.

If Spider's threat was true, and yet Aoko was still confused about what danger she could possibly be, it meant she didn't meet Spider as Spider. It must be his other alias—the charming, sensational damn of an illusionist—that she met.

"Do you know Gunter?" He asked.

Aoko blinked. "How did you—?"

"You haven't answered me."

"I—Yeah." She mumbled, her lips thinned into a grim line. "We happened to meet in the lift when I was on a case a week ago, and he offered me a ticket for his performance. I went."

_A week ago?_  Kaito pressed his nails deep into his palm.  _That bastard already had it all planned the moment he returned?_

Kaito could literally feel the anxiety eating his guts out, and being in the car with so little space between them, it would be easy for Aoko to catch any irregularity in his breaths. He closed his eyes, trying to steady himself, but it didn't quite seem to work.

_This is such a mess._

"Kid…?"

He opened his eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asked, her features masked with concern.

Kaito straightened on his seat and turned away, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden swirling feeling in his chest—which he wasn't sure to account it for his anxiety or the sight of Aoko's face. But ignoring those thoughts, along with the question she asked, he continued.

"About him—this Gunter—you must stay away from him."

Aoko frowned. "But—"

"And me too."

She flinched, shifting in her seat. "What are you talking about? Stay away from him… and you? Why is he—? Wait… were you disguising as him all along?"

That was worse than any insult Kaito could hear. "No. I am not him."

"Then what do you mean?"

Kaito bit his lower lip, gathering the courage in him to speak the  _truth_ , which was like exposing himself in the cold he hated. And it was hard, when he'd spent the years bundling in thick layers of vigilance and doubt and the painful knowledge of how brutal the truth could hurt.

But there was no other way around this.

"He works with Snake." Kaito said as he watched Aoko grew motionless. "And so do I."

His heart suddenly lurched at the sight of her eyes widening like blue full moons, and he became fearful of her tears and worried for his ears—

None of his fears came true.

"You... lied to me." Was all she said.

But _God_ , he hated how fragile her voice suddenly sounded, and how easy it seemed to break her. She wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be loud and screaming at him, demanding why he lied (not just stating it like a fact), and all this all that. Here, there was nothing about  _Nakamori Aoko_  in her voice.

There was nothing in  _that_ voice.

"Yes." Kaito said, suddenly remembering to breathe. "And I should have told you the truth and ended things there."

"Ended what there?"

"Our meetings."

"Then why are you telling me now?" She asked quietly, her voice like a ticking time bomb. "Why don't you continue lying to me?"

Again, a choice between two conversation routes. He could lie, to save some pride, hide his feelings and deny everything Aoko was possibly guessing in her head. Or he could say the truth, feel his own words amplifying his pain, and live a couple of years shorter because of heartaches.

He didn't want the latter.

But he gave her what she wanted.

"I just… didn't want you to see me as a person like Snake." Kaito turned away. "But I realized I can't do that anymore. Not when Spider is involved in this. That's why you have to leave."

He didn't dare to look at her to anticipate what her response would be, so all he could do was wait; and the wait felt like watching a balloon filled with dread floating around his face, threatening to pop. He didn't have the patience, but he did his part to not let it show. He just wasn't sure how long he could last—

"I can't leave." Aoko finally said.

His exasperation gave him the courage to look at her in the eye. "Do you not understand what I've just said?"

"I  _do_. But I can't do that with a snap of a finger. I have a job. My father, my friends; everyone I know is here." She gestured her hand wildly in the small space of the car. "I can't just up and leave—"

"If they know what could happen to you, I'm sure they will ask you to leave too."

She snapped her head towards him. "Is this a threat,  _Kaitou Kid?_ "

"If that's the only way."

"You can't do that." Aoko growled, her face drawn tight and furious. "I will  _not_ leave."

"Spider is dangerous—"

" _Who_  the hell is Spider anyway? I know he's Gunter, if that's what he is. But who  _is_  he? I've never heard of him. Is he a thief like you or—?"

"Of course you wouldn't hear of him. Nobody is alive to speak about him." He said, barely above a whisper. "He's an assassin; a murderer."

Aoko opened her mouth, sucking in a loud breath that made her face bloat. "Assassin…?" She echoed, a little breathless.

"That's why you have to leave."

"I— I still don't get it. What is his motive for getting close to me?"

"To screw me up."

"Screw you up?" Her eyes began darting around, as if the clues were in the air and she was trying to piece them together. "Is he using me to threaten you or—"

"It's my fault," Kaito said, cutting Aoko off and brushing a hand past his hair, "and that's all you need to know."

It was true; he wasn't just bullshitting for the sake of shutting Aoko up. Everything had been his fault. He shouldn't have returned those paintings. He shouldn't have gotten on Aoko's car during Gozu's pursue. He shouldn't have agreed to that five favours. He shouldn't have shown her his face. He shouldn't have agreed to bring her to all those clubs just because she insisted. He shouldn't have done so many damn things, but he already did all of them, just because she was Nakamori Aoko.

And all along Kaito thought he was the best at rationality.

"If this is about avoiding Spider, I can do it. I can protect  _myself_." Aoko said, with so much determination that Kaito almost wavered. But he didn't in the end and continued to hold his ground.

"It's not that easy."

She gave him a taunting look. "You don't trust me?"

"I trust you." He said, (and he pretended he didn't hear it when Aoko gasped). "But they are far too dangerous. I can't take the risk."

"And yet you work with them."

"This is different—"

"If that's the case, can't you protect me?"

His head shot towards her, mouth gaping open before he pressed his lips together, keeping the words locked in his throat.

Why couldn't she get it? Why couldn't she understand this was his way of protecting her? But he didn't say it, not when he realized the form of protection he meant was not the protection she wanted.

Aoko was still waiting for his reply.

"I can't," Kaito said, lowering his gaze to his hands… the hands that were responsible in picking locks, throwing bombs, and dragging Aoko to this mess—He had no rights to claim he was protecting her, or how he could protect her. "Like I said, it's not just them you should get away from... You need to get away from me too."

A dog barked at the distance.

Two cats scurried across the road.

The silence began to grow again, turning thicker and thicker like smoke, intoxicating and suffocating them in the car. Kaito was tempted to get off and run away, but every second that ticked by suddenly seemed so precious to him. Every second that was soaked in Aoko's presence, her air, the sight of her… It would be the end of it once he stepped out and leave.

This was supposedly their last meeting—

"Does that mean..." Aoko said, the crispness of her voice breaking his thoughts and silence. "We won't be seeing each other again?"

He swallowed. "Yes."

"And that would make things better for you?"

He stared at her.

She turned away to look out of the car window.

It was a question he didn't consider; he didn't think about him. He only thought of her. Her safety. Her life. He just wanted her to leave as far as possible, and that was it. He never wondered the implications for his sake, but now that she asked, he did.

_Would it make things better for me?_

The answer was no.

But in the end Kaito said  _"Yes."_  because it was the only thing he could say to keep her safe. If anything, _anything_ , happened to her, and that he didn't stop it with all he could, he would never forgive himself.

He had so much things he hadn't forgive himself for. He didn't want to add on another thing on the list.

Aoko was still looking outside of the window, her hair covering her features well, almost entirely that he couldn't tell anything from his point of view, and that could be precisely for that reason.

He hated himself to be the cause of the reason.

Kaito glanced down at his hands again and flicked a thumb… There was nothing else he could think to say besides making a move to leave, but then he remembered the thing that started it all, which connected them together from a bad start till… this bad end.

"About the favours," he began. "I don't think I can return the last one."

"That's unfair." She mumbled. Not angry, not hateful, but sour. Like a kid who didn't get to play even though she finished her homework.

The side of his lips tugged. "You can ask one now, if you can think of any."

"I don't know." She shrugged, careless and nonchalant. "This… You— I don't know."

Already having an idea in mind, he offered. "Or I can tell you something."

Finally, Aoko turned to face him, her eyes looking almost accusingly. "What else do you have to tell me?"

It might not mean much. It could mean nothing at all. But it was the only truth he could say, and one that he allowed himself to let her know:

"My name."

She gaped at him.

There wasn't an answer, but he took her long silence as one. "My name is Kuroba Kaito." He said.

Aoko first let out a breath. Then a snort. Then a loud cackle that sounded all too fake, and Kaito was impressed that he didn't cringe. And Aoko too—It was either she was unconsciously convinced in her act, or she didn't have that mentality to care.

Kaito only watched her until her fake laughter died down. Even in the darkness, he could spot the pink hues across her cheeks that reached her ear, and it became even clearer when she nervously pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Th-This is nothing, isn't it?" Aoko blurted, her words tainted in the awkwardness of her smile. "Like your real face, Shinichi must have known your name too."

"No, he doesn't. Only three people in this world do." Kaito paused, letting it sink in. "Jii-chan. My mother. And now you."

Aoko widened her eyes.

Seeing how she still looked too stunned to reply, Kaito continued. "Favours all returned. I'm done." And it was the right moment to leave too. This conversation had been prolonged far too long.

He reached for the door handle.

"Wait—" Aoko called out, and Kaito stopped. She seemed surprised that he actually did what she ask, and now that the unexpected happened, she wasn't sure how to continue. She bit her lower lip, contemplating, but Kaito couldn't bear to stay in the car anymore.

The longer he stayed, the worse this was going to get.

Kaito cleared his throat. "If there's nothing…"

"Are you—" Aoko began. "Are you still going to continue working with those criminals?" Those  _murderers_?"

The strength of her voice was returning, unlike the past few minutes when she sounded so deflated like her entire life was sucked out of her. She was becoming back to her old state, including her feisty, justice-like self. He always preferred that part of her over anything, but it was also the part that he feared now; he couldn't afford having this confrontation with her.

He rubbed an eye, though nearly forgetting that he was still wearing contacts. "Just heed my warning and get out of here."

With that, Kaito opened the door and got off, feeling the rush of cool air sweeping across his cheeks. His hand was still on the door, but he closed it shut in the end without looking back, determined not to glimpse at her face, determined not to be tempted to stay.

Kaito trudged away.

Ever since he became Kaitou Kid, he'd always lived on the edge; the thrills, almost-deaths and could-have-beens… but those were the times when he felt at the peak—the most alive he could ever be.

Ironically, it was these moments that made him feel more than dead—when the ones who got hurt wasn't him. When he walked away scratch free. When he could still walk away. When he was still breathing fine (tried to, at least).

Now and here, as he continued walking away, continued breathing in the cold air that didn't null the ache in his chest,  _this_ , was the third time he felt like he had died.


End file.
